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Vuser

Virtual Reality User

Vuser
Image from Steve Bowers

A vuser is a biological (or otherwise embodied) sophont who uses interactive technology to enter a virtual reality scenario.

Many virtual reality scenarios are inhabited primarily by informorphs, virtual entities that exist only as software. Most, but not all of these cybercosms can also be accessed by embodied sophonts, either bionts, vecs or intermediate types such as cyborgs, through the use of interactive technology. These embodied users of VR are often called 'virch-users' or 'vusers' by the virtuals who make up the majority of the inhabitants.

In the early history of virtual reality, humans were able to interact with virtual environments using a wide range of interfaces, including virtual reality headsets, haptic interfaces and environment simulation systems such as Reality Rooms and simmballs. Some of the earliest forms of utility fog were used inside environment simulation suits to give the user the illusion of contact with solid objects.

By the Federation Era this crude method had been almost completely superceded by direct neural interfacing, although a biological sophont who remains for an extended period within a virtual universe must make some arrangements for eir bodily needs to be taken care of. In the Current Era, it is realively commomplace for a modosophont to be capable of more than one locus of consciousness, so a vuser can carry on a normal life inside their physical body while simultaneously experiencing another, different lifestyle inside a virch. Some are capable of several such experiences at once, while sharing information between these lives at will.

Originally a neutral term, 'vuser' has become a mildly pejorative word in some virtual cultures.

 
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    Generally, an aggregation or collection of thousands of interconnected virchworlds or cybercosms, all sharing the same basic ontology and lay-out, to make traveling from one to the other easier. Sometimes also used to designate a single extremely large virchworld.
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Appears in Topics
EverydaytechVirtual RealityVirtual/Infotech
 
Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 14 June 2016.

 
 
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