Virtual reality games and environmental awareness

Abstract

The contribution deals with the importance of virtual reality (VR) within the contemporary world and its impact on essential human needs. Technological advances are expanding, they are less limiting, and so now, more so than ever before, these new experiences allow people to gain attributes which help to develop their skills and personality as well. One of the primary objectives of the VR games is entertainment, but VR is used also beyond the realm of entertaining, and expands into other fields like art, various abilities’ trainings, psychology, journalism and even complementing traditional education. Although, VR is not an entirely new technology, the genesis of which being a somewhat debatable topic that depends on its specific definition, what characterizes it and what fundamentally defines it both technologically and as an experience. In recent years considerable progress has been made on its technological side, making it currently more usable, reliable and affordable than ever before. The theoretical part of the study is devoted to the first technologies, which can be considered as the base of VR, defines key terms such as simulation, virtual worlds and virtual reality systems, specifies the essence of VR and its compatibility with different devices. In the research part, we focus on the education through VR games and the use of the VR technology to raise awareness in selected ecological issues. The objective is to introduce the possibilities of using VR games in the process of environmental education focusing on different target groups. We propose a solution through a specific game that has been already created to be compatible with virtual reality and focuses on separating waste with an aim to increase environmental knowledge, eco-innovation awareness and sustainability.