Editing Reality (section)

=== Virtual reality and cyberspace ===
Virtual reality (VR) is a [[Computer simulation|computer-simulated]] environment that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds.

[[File:Virtuality continuum 2-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|Reality-virtuality continuum]]The [[virtuality continuum]] is a continuous scale ranging between the completely virtual, a virtuality, and the completely real: reality. The reality–virtuality continuum therefore encompasses all possible variations and compositions of real and [[Virtuality|virtual]] objects. It has been described as a concept in [[new media]] and [[computer science]], but in fact it could be considered a matter of [[anthropology]]. The concept was first introduced by Paul Milgram.<ref>{{cite conference |last1=Milgram |first1=Paul |last2=Takemura |first2=H. |last3=Utsumi |first3=A. |last4=Kishino |first4=F. |year=1994 |title=Augmented Reality: A class of displays on the reality-virtuality continuum |url=http://vered.rose.utoronto.ca/publication/1994/Milgram_Takemura_SPIE1994.pdf |conference=Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies |pages=2351–2434 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004044435/https://vered.rose.utoronto.ca/publication/1994/Milgram_Takemura_SPIE1994.pdf |archive-date=2006-10-04 |access-date=2007-03-15 |book-title=Proceedings of Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The area between the two extremes, where both the real and the virtual are mixed, is the so-called [[mixed reality]]. This in turn is said to consist of both [[augmented reality]], where the virtual augments the real, and [[augmented virtuality]], where the real augments the virtual.
[[Cyberspace]], the world's computer systems considered as an interconnected whole, can be thought of as a virtual reality; for instance, it is portrayed as such in the [[cyberpunk]] fiction of [[William Gibson]] and others. ''[[Second Life]]'' and [[MMORPG]]s such as ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' are examples of artificial environments or [[virtual world]]s (falling some way short of full virtual reality) in cyberspace.