6 The Genres of AR and VR

This chapter is a survey of current AR and VR applications. Given the rapid development of VR and AR, many of the examples we list are bound to have been surpassed by others by the time you read this. Nevertheless, the genres that we describe (games, art, visualization, navigation, and so on) have already been around for several years, some in the laboratory if not in general use, and are likely to remain and grow for the immediate future. Most current AR and VR applications behave like applications or artifacts that we know from earlier media. Minecraft Earth was unmistakably a video game. Clouds over Sidra is clearly a documentary. Reality media applications often function as additions to established genres. This is most obviously the case for the categories of entertainment and the arts. Video games have been played for decades on consoles and computers. Documentaries in 360-degree form clearly belong to a film tradition that began in the 1920s and 1930s. Both VR and AR contribute new forms to the genre of media- supported conferencing and chatting that dates back not only to telephone and video conferencing for business but also to the party-line telephone systems of the early 1900s. Even the scientific and commercial uses of AR and VR are often remediations and belong to genres. An app that lets you visualize a piece of furniture in your living room is an extension of the product catalog or in-store furniture displays. An AR headset that permits building inspectors or first responders to see through the walls of a building is a remediation of paper blueprints and wiring diagrams.