Imagine for a moment that any distance for you has lost its insuperability, any desires have been instantly executed, and all the beauties of the world have become available by simply pressing a button or two. Wherever we stick, restrictions are imposed on us: legs hurt after long walking, fear of heights, lack of money for a ticket to anywhere in the world, and a sofa has a powerful gravitational field. Yes, if we lived in utopia or were extremely rich, life would be simpler, but it would take many years to achieve this. Fortunately, omnipotence has a simpler recipe: virtual reality.

The idea of virtual reality exists for many years, but only in the last few years the world has come so close to this border that it is about to be felt. The very term "virtual reality" came into use only in 1985, thirty years ago. The first technical implementation of the device, which, according to the plan of developer Ivan Sutherland, was to immerse people in a fictional world, was released in 1968. Due to the huge size and side effects, it was called the "Damocles sword", and this idea has exhausted itself. However, once even Bill Gates believed that 640 kilobytes should be enough for everyone.

It was the period until 2000 that was deposited in the minds of people as a "history of the development of virtual reality." That's why today no one is surprised by a helmet and virtual simulators, and that's why skeptics shrug their shoulders and say that "all these things already existed". There is an elusive feeling in the air, that virtual reality has been with us for a long time and did not go anywhere. Luckily, there are fans in this world who break templates.

The hero of our time is younger than many of us. At the age of fifteen, Palmer Lucky became the owner of the world's largest collection of headsets with displays, worn on the head, thanks to his hobby. At the age of sixteen, he assembled the first working prototype in his garage. In August 2012, the campaign launched at Kickstarter, already raises 250,000 dollars in just a few hours. In March 2014, Oculus VR buys was bought by Facebook for $ 2 billion. Today, the 21-year-old founder of the company has become almost an icon of the younger generation of gamers, as well as one of the main evangelists of the "second wave" of virtual reality. What is the secret of his success?

Much more interesting is how this device works and what is so magical in it that during the previous 50 years no one was able to create the same. The process of penetration in virtual reality is very simple. You put a helmet on your head, sit comfortably, connect to an external source of entertainment (computer, of course) and sink. Now it can be tested only with one of the development kits, but Oculus actively prepares everyone from game manufacturers to ordinary users to the start of sales. Opened platform for developers is one of the advantages of Oculus. At the start, you will immediately have something to play.

In fact, Oculus has solved and continues to address the main problems that virtual reality has faced all the previous years.

• In the 90's a simple headset, largely due to displays and motion tracking systems, cost about 15 thousand dollars. Relatively powerful graphics system could be purchased for 50 thousand dollars. Of course, virtual reality systems were given only to the richest institutions - scientific laboratories and the military for training. Today, thanks to the incredible development of technology, displays have come to cost much cheaper.
• In the early 90's, Virtuality Group released powerful virtual reality headsets with an incredible resolution of 276x372 at that time. The latest version of the Oculus Rift boasts a resolution of 960x1080.
• The team of Palmer Lucky was able to solve problems related to the quality of perception of virtual reality. Solved problems of motion sickness (users were constantly suffering from this) due to motion blur and insufficient number of frames per second, as well as the delay in updating the picture. Now the testers spend a day with a headset on their head and feel exhausted, but happy.
• A colossal drop in the cost of processors and a general cheapening and miniaturization of related technologies led to the fact that Oculus Rift can be taken in tens or even hundreds of times cheaper than the best virtual reality system ten years ago.

Improving the quality of the image, tracking the movements of the user through an external camera, and, most importantly, increasing the viewing angle to 110 degrees-all this has become a secret of success. Stereoscopic 3D view in the headset gives full peripheral vision and the effect of immersion, as if you are looking at the surrounding world with your own eyes.

Together with Oculus, other companies begin to gradually enter the virtual reality market. Sony (not a pioneer in the field of games) announced its Morpheus headset; Samsung (with the support of Oculus engineers) introduced its virtual reality helmet Gear VR, in which the main display is Galaxy Note 4. No one will be surprised if next year will be a year of virtual reality sets that will sprinkle from everywhere, the same way the smartphones once did.

As for the technical details, let's talk about what this is all about. Who needs a virtual reality? What for in general to be fenced off from the world behind convex lenses? The answer is one for everything: it's really cool.

Whatever one may say, virtual reality will come to us faster than we expected, and the trend promises to be more powerful than the aforementioned cinemas in 3D or the new iPhone. Gamers, armed with inexpensive headsets, will find a second wind and for many years will be lost in virtual reality. People will have a simpler chance to try themselves a Formula 1 racer, a fighter pilot or a captain of the Enterprise. Special prospects promise the use of virtual reality in medicine and on the battlefield.

The goal of Palmer Lucky is to make Oculus Rift an everyday product, without which everyday life will be impossible. It looks like a smartphone, is not it? In this case, the creator of Oculus recognizes that the first users of the headsets will probably be professional gamers who may need a powerful computer. In the nearest future Oculus Rift will be able to do without the need to connect to an external source, such as a PC or console. But so far ... Meanwhile, Oculus does not even plan to sell its equipment in retail - only through the site.

The game industry is a heavy flywheel that is spinning to bring virtual reality to the world. Over time, according to Lucky, virtual reality will go beyond the limits of games. The people, who are engaged in the creation of three-dimensional games, will deal with virtual walks, architecture, films and many other things.

What's next? The world around you will be filled with interactive elements, pop-up hints and advertising, popping up on every corner. Regardless of whether you walk in a helmet, glasses or lenses, the main interface - the human eye - will remain unchanged. Most of the information we "see". You should agree that it would be interesting if everything that we see could be changed, as if by magic.

About the author: Melisa Marzett is a very talented and clever woman. She is able to discuss any topic. You are welcome to check her posts at livecustomwriting.com