As I went to the park with my two dogs today, I noticed something strange, a group of about 30 people walking through the normally deserted park. Phones in hand, trying to get a glimpse of a Pokémon. And as I was watching those people, I thought: these people are absolutely totally crazy. From the news we hear stuff about people searching for Pokemon at the 9/11 memorial, near the railroads, in the mortuarium, at the police station and in lots of other places. It is becoming one of my daily fascinations to see people walking through reality in search of fictional characters. It made me wonder, is it really that bad? Are that many people obsessed with gaming? But if they are obsessed with gaming, isn’t this augmented reality their escape? Their way out of their room? So let’s take it step by step if augmented reality is good or bad.
What is it?
For those who aren’t aquatinted with the concept of ‘augmented reality’, it’s reality + something virtual. Let’s just imagine you’re being in your living room and you wanted to see how a new couch would fit in with the rest of the room. Then just open an app or put on some glasses and voilà, you will see the couch you wanted in your room. Even in 1977 with the first Star Wars movie: a new hope, they already thought of the concept (without the glasses). Nowadays we’re not playing boardgames anymore, we’re either hunting for some Pokémon, start renewing your house or advertise in a brand in a totally new way. So how is this different from ‘virtual reality’? Virtual reality is you put on glasses and you find yourself in a virtual place, where you can do anything.
The downsides
So what are the downsides? First of all: obsession. What we see with the Pokémon GO game is that people get addicted to games very fast, especially if it’s something completely new (and perhaps very fun to play). It’s that moment when you see a film of 100 people running through central park, trying to get Charizard. Another kind of obsession is when there is getting way too much of it. This overuse messes with our ability to concentrate , it also makes sure governments have a constant track on our positions, privacy is excluded because all our patterns and movements are stored on a computer.
The upsides
The upsides are enormous. Let’s start with the most amazing one first: education. Just imagine teaching history when you can easily bring out the battlefield, a campaign or historic characters on your table. Or teaching biology when you can show the entire human body in 3d. Or for higher education take civil engineering to a whole new level.
Or when you want to try out a new sport but lack the need or time to go to a club, simply use your reality gadget. Try out yoga and need a coach? Sure. You want to experience the moon landing? of course you can. Want to explore the galaxy? Hold a planet in your hand and zoom in, explore and share your data. Or if you are developing a new product, why not see the formula’s as actual objects? Or finally, why go to meetings at the other side of the country, when you can simply put some augmented reality networks together to have the meeting at your own place?
Finally, it gets the people who stay at home all the time out of the house. Which is a good thing, because that way, augmented reality can also be supportive to vitality management.
Scenario sketching
So in the end, augmented reality can be a big help in education, self-improvement, exploration, technology and business concepts. With it, people should mind not getting obsessed, because before you know it, we’ll be running like a herd towards the Pokémon that isn’t even there in reality. As mission augmented reality should be supportive to other products or services.
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