- Exploring the World of Augmented Mixed and Virtual Reality
- In today’s fast-paced world, technology continues to evolve, bringing us new ways to connect, learn, and experience the world around us. Two such technologies that are reshaping our experiences are Augmented Mixed Reality (AMR) and Virtual Reality (VR).
- Understanding Virtual Reality
- Let’s start with Virtual Reality or VR. Imagine putting on a headset and finding yourself in a completely different place. You could be standing on top of a mountain, walking through a bustling city, or exploring a mysterious underwater world. Everything around you is created digitally, but it feels as if you’re really there. That’s VR—it’s like stepping into a whole new world without leaving your living room.
- The Magic of Augmented Mixed Reality
- Now, let’s talk about Augmented Mixed Reality or AMR. This technology is a bit different. Instead of taking you to a completely digital world, AMR brings digital elements into your real, physical environment. Imagine looking at your living room through a special pair of glasses, and suddenly, you see a dinosaur strolling around your coffee table, or a spaceship hovering in mid-air.
- These digital objects feel like they’re part of your world, and you can interact with them. That’s the magic of AMR—it blends the digital and physical worlds together.
- Creating Immersive Experiences
- Both VR and AMR create what we call ‘immersive experiences’. This means they draw you in and make you feel like you’re part of the action. They’re not just something you watch—they’re something you experience.
- Imagine watching a movie where you’re not just seeing the story unfold on a screen, but you’re inside the story, interacting with the characters, and influencing the outcome. Or imagine a video game where instead of controlling a character with a joystick, you are the character, moving through the game world as if it were real. These are the kinds of experiences VR and AMR can create.
VR and AMR are exciting technologies that are changing the way we experience digital content. They’re not just about watching or playing—they’re about stepping inside and becoming a part of the story. Whether you’re exploring new worlds in VR or interacting with digital objects in your own living room with AMR, these technologies offer a whole new level of engagement and fun.
The Future of Gamification or Immersive Experiences: Embracing the Thrill of Mixed Reality
Consider the market as an Escape Room – a concept that has proven to be a successful business model over the past years. Now, it’s time to invigorate this model with a fresh face by integrating CROSS REALITY or XR GAMING from MIXED REALITY (MR), including Augmented and Virtual Realities. This amalgamation breathes new life into the traditional escape room, birthing THRILL-XR – a thrilling experience in any rentable space.
Europe and North America are currently the largest markets for virtual reality video gaming. In 2016, the European market was valued at 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, while North America trailed slightly behind at 1.5 billion U.S. dollars. The enthusiasm around virtual reality, particularly in the gaming sector, has soared as new hardware releases continue to hit the market.
Virtual reality video gaming is expected to witness robust growth worldwide, with revenues projected to surge from 660 million U.S. dollars in 2015 to almost 23 billion U.S. dollars by 2020. While there are optimistic prospects for virtual reality gaming, it is still in its infancy in the gaming industry. Interestingly, nearly 60 percent of American consumers believe that virtual reality will revolutionize video gaming. However, 60 percent of global gamers expressed no interest in purchasing a virtual reality headset as of March 2016, indicating that the future of this technology remains uncertain.
Launching this project comes with numerous benefits, primarily our industry-leading PROGRAMMING and INNOVATOR EVANGELISTS comprising the in-house development team. This team possesses the capability to design, build, and test ad-hoc concepts, enabling us to tap into future markets for advertising needs, as well as alternate usages in industries such as healthcare, automotive, and education.
With virtual reality and augmented reality gaining traction, it’s time to view them as potential new marketing channels that offer innovative and powerful ways to engage customers. We envisage creating an American Ninja/AMAZING RACE type production with carefully selected backgrounds and drama featuring players from diverse cultural backgrounds who share a passion for gaming, adventure, travel sports, and martial arts crime and thriller themes.
Escape Rooms appeal to a wide demographic and are most successful when teams comprise individuals with diverse experiences, skills, background knowledge, and physical abilities. Being live-action games in the physical world, Escape Rooms foster direct connections among players, offering a unique experience as they transition from board games to a physical fantasy world filled with challenges and engagement opportunities.
The Escape Room concept has gained global popularity, with over 2,800 permanent Escape Rooms worldwide since 2010. Furthermore, it has proven to be a lucrative business, as evidenced by the first Escape Room in the Pacific Northwest U.S., which saw a return of over $600,000 from an initial investment of $7,000.
Escape rooms cater to a broad audience, attracting young groups (about 36% of users), adults (25%), families (14%), corporate clients (19%), and couples on dates (11%). As we move forward, we aim to capitalize on this market potential by bringing the THRILL-XR experience to a wider audience.
Another important element concerning the success of an Escape Room is the theme. While some players go to Escape Rooms just to face the challenges of the puzzles, others are more interested in the narrative behind the room. Obviously, the better the theme is reflected in the actual room, the more successful the business is. The themes also differ from one continent to the other. For example, as Scott Nicholson’s study suggests, horror themes are more popular in Asia, where 24% of the rooms have a horror theme. On the other hand, in Europe, customers prefer themes influenced by the last century and in America, players prefer the modern times.
| Themes | Overall |
| Modern Era (2000-2015) | 25% |
| Specific place and time (1900-2000) | 24% |
| Other | 16% |
| Specific place and time (1700-1900) | 13% |
| Horror | 13% |
| Fantasy | 12% |
| Science/Laboratory | 12% |
| Abstract: No theme | 10% |
| Future / Tech | 7% |
| Military | 7% |
| Toy Room | 3% |
| Cartoon/Anime | 1% |
| Steampunk | 1% |
| Seasonal | 1% |
| School | 0% |
With different themes, intriguing challenges and rooms that give you the feeling that you are actually part of a video game, the Escape Rooms are a perfect way to spend an hour with friends, testing your teamwork capabilities, your wit and intuition and last but not least, the amount of fun you can have by playing.