User:Gwonstephen/Virtual reality game

Introduction
The advent of VR in gaming marks a significant milestone in the quest for fully immersive digital experiences. As VR technology continues to advance, it has the potential to further transform the gaming industry, offering even more interactive experiences that push the boundaries of what is possible through digital entertainment.

Introduction of consumer-ready hardware (2010s–present)
The Oculus Rift offered an immersive gaming experience that was unprecedented at the time, heralding a new era for video games. The Oculus Rift's inclusions of high-resolution display and precise head tracking collectively contribute to a deeply immersive environment and richer experience that can accept the hardware requirements of gaming. The Rift also enables intuitive interaction with virtual environments, allowing for a range of actions such as grabbing, throwing, and manipulating objects with realistic precision. All of this is in order to increase immersion of the player when playing fast-paced shooters, adventure games, and simulation experiences.

Despite its successes, the Oculus Rift at the time faced some challenges, including the need for a tethered connection to a PC, which can limit mobility and the overall sense of immersion. Additionally, the initial cost of the headset, combined with the requirement for a high-end PC, made it less accessible to the average consumer.

In 2024, the newly released Apple Vision Pro was a major advancement in Virtual Reality and gaming due to its unique advantages underscored by the filing of 5,000 patents in recent years and the leverage of a vast capital in the form of Apple. This device features hardware such as dual panels that offer 24 million pixels, far surpassing devices such as the Oculus Rift. The device also features modern optics, and an ergonomic headband. The integration of the R1 chip, working in tandem with the M2 chip, results in a polling rate of 12 milliseconds, getting rid of the dizzying latency issues that were prevalent in previous devices. The major advancements in hardware alongside the inclusion of enabling software such as the App Store holds a bright future for the world of VR gaming, with mobile games such as Plants vs Zombies and Clash Royale becoming future games for the VR experience.

Impact on Health
The integration of Virtual Reality games into the field of health mark an evolution in how immersive technologies can influence human behavior and learning processes. In healthcare, VR games have emerged as a revolutionary tool for physical rehabilitation, psychological therapy, and health education, offering interactive and immersive methods to improve patient outcomes. One example of VR in healthcare is the effectiveness of VR games on improving health in elderly post-stroke patients, revealing VR sports games as more effective than traditional rehabilitation training on improving cognitive, physical, and emotional functions. Additionally, VR games have been applied in mental health treatment, offering exposure therapy for phobias, anxiety, and PTSD in a safe, but realistic environment. As vulnerability to stress is directly linked to poor mental health, VR games that stimulate relaxation aims to help people with mental health conditions by reducing stress in a fully immersive environment. A specific application of VR games is for people living in busy cities to get to experience a real-world simulation of peaceful woodland or relaxing farmhouse, reducing all the stress that could potentially come from their environment.

There is also research being done on integrating VR games with cognitive behavior therapies. Not only can VR games be useful for treatment of mental and physical health, but it can also be used as a tool to diagnose, manage, and treat an individual's health without needing to go to a clinic. There are current risks with VR gaming being used as a coping mechanism that reduces real-world situations to just a simulation, but if addressed properly, VR gaming can become a modern advancement in the field of health.