It's a slow Saturday afternoon and rain is sluicing down the windowpanes. The kids are complaining that there's nothing to do and you could use a little action yourself. Let's see. How about racking up robots, diving with dolphins or shattering the sound barrier in a Harrier? Thanks to the wonders of virtual reality (VR) you can do them all in the same afternoon and still have time to bathe the dog. If you don't have a VR arcade nearby, don't despair; the technology is expanding, the cost is coming down, and these location-based entertainment (LBE) sites are proliferating like tribbles.

Virtual World Entertainment's BattleTech, a futuristic war game, has been continuously running since 1991 expanding to 17 LBE centers in the U.S. since it's Chicago opening. © 1999 Virtual World Entertainment, LLC.

LBE's Evolution
Location-based entertainment is hardly a new concept. The bowling alley where your mom and dad dated could be rightfully called LBE. When "Jake's Roll 'N Bowl" later set Space Invaders and Galaxian video games beside the shoe rental counter, your future parents could enjoy a crude entertainment multiplex. The same can be said for movie theaters, miniature golf courses and amusement parks. However, such entertainment was a bit short on imagination -- a concept that took on increasing relevance as location-based entertainment evolved. The opening of Disneyland in 1955 may have been the first large-scale example of LBE as participants entered distinctly themed fantasy environments and watched "animatronic" animals, dolls and presidents cavort for their entertainment and delight. As location-based entertainment became more technically sophisticated, the level of interactive participation increased greatly. LBE involving VR simulations is the ultimate example of this principle.

The goal of any VR program is to involve the participant directly in the events being simulated, and the more advanced the program the more detailed the simulation. The participant can experience varying levels of VR. With Window on the World (WoW) technology, a.k.a. "desktop" VR, one views the action on a conventional computer monitor or screen. The next level up is "video mapping," which puts a simulation of the participant into the game itself. The most advanced incarnation of VR is called "immersive." Here the player, through use of a head-mounted display (HMD), sensory control gloves, an advanced joystick, or a combination of these, actually enters the game in a physical and psychological sense. Immersive VR can be enjoyed in a "pod," cockpit or cab; these devices may have vertical and roll motion or use moving seats. The experience may even take place in a room ("cave," to use the vernacular) where wireless tracking allows full body, free-range movement within the simulated environment.