from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
virtual reality
VR
(VR)
1. <application> Computer simulations that use 3D graphics and
devices such as the {data glove} to allow the user to interact
with the simulation.
2. <games> A form of network interaction incorporating aspects
of role-playing games, interactive theater, improvisational
comedy, and "true confessions" magazines. In a virtual
reality forum (such as Usenet's news:alt.callahans
newsgroup or the {MUD} experiments on {Internet} and
elsewhere), interaction between the participants is written
like a shared novel complete with scenery, "foreground
characters" that may be personae utterly unlike the people who
write them, and common "background characters" manipulable by
all parties. The one iron law is that you may not write
irreversible changes to a character without the consent of the
person who "owns" it, otherwise, anything goes.
See {bamf}, {cyberspace}.
[{Jargon File}]
(1995-01-30)