LECTURE FOUR

I was first introduced to Virtual Reality when I was a kid. We have a beach house and as children we spent all our school holidays there. Down our street lived who we aptly named 'the rich kids'. There were two sisters and a brother and at times they would come and join our army of cousins and friends and play. Every afternoon (quite religously), we played an ongoing game of backyard cricket - kind of like a month-long test match. One year, for Christmas, the 'rich boy' was given a virtual reality set. A big black mask that you put over your head and things that attached to your hands and feet. One of the games he was given for his virtual reality set was cricket.

The boy (and his parents) were very protective of his new toy but I was very persuasive and managed talk my way into geting a go. Not knowing very much at all about virtual reality I was very excited about the prospect of playing with such new technology. I knew this was an expensive toy that my parents could never afford to buy me so I wanted to make the most of my one and only chance to use a virtual reality set.

I eagerly put strapped the mask to my head and attached to rest to my hands and shins. I was shocked at how real it all looked. It was like I was playing the Ashes at the GABBA. It was amazing - for the first 5 minutes. I missed my friends. I felt very alone in the house; in my head mask; in my own little virtual world. I missed the interaction; the big anticipation when someone's hit a 'CATCH', the high-fives when I got someone out; hell, I even missed running for the ball when I hit it over the road and into the bush.

To me, virtual reality is an amazing technological accomplishment - but it's not an alternative to the real thing.