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Will augmented reality make people indulge in the virtual world? ——several problems of AR

Nowadays, people have designed a lot of applications of AR in different areas. The Pokémon Go is one of the most famous AR games which is also a very successful application of AR in real life. And we can say that AR is going to play an important role in the future. Under this circumstance, many people expect that the AR technology can bring us many improvements in our daily life. And along with the improvement of AI technology, more and more people believe the game company can use AI as a heart and then create many amazing and playful games in the near future. Until now, the AR can only connect with the physical environment by cameras in the daily life. And with AI, game designers can come up with more ways for people to link the virtual world to the real-life.

However, the combination of AI and AR technology can also make a lot of negative effects to people. Sometimes the AR technology may lead to addition  because some people can’t distinguish between the real world and the virtual reality. If that really happens, then less people will be willing to work hard. As a result, the productivity of the whole society may decrease. But before we show you the negative side of that technology, maybe we can know the specific meaning of the AR.

What’s is AR? 

Augmented reality (AR) is an “interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real-world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory.” - From Wikipedia.

Will you live in a virtual world?

Pokémon go AR is one of the most popular games around the world. You can use your phone’s camera to show a Pokémon in real world, trapping them to get their attention and make them pose accordingly.

Let’s imagine one day the AR is everywhere in our life---- You wear a AR glasses, it will show you the famous TV shows to you. Then, you need to attend a meeting, AR glasses make a virtual meeting room and your colleagues are all sit here. After that, you want to go to a restaurant and have a meal. You see a map on your AR glasses and you just need to follow the instructions. You can do everything you can image by AR. In that case, will you live without AR?    

You might think it is really a wonderful thing. However, spending more time in virtual life means less time in real life. There is a  research shows the mobile phone makes people feel less connected. The experience shows more than 500000 of people don’t get out of their house for half of a year. 

These people don’t have many friends, they rarely have communication with people. And they have bad health. That’s all because they are indulge in the virtual world. So how can we avoid to addicted to virtual world? Many psychologists believe that people should have more communications with others and do more sports. Don’t forget you are living in the real world.

And there are some other social problems which caused by the AR by NOW. For example, sometimes people may get injured while playing the Pokémon game since they may be too excited to run to the Pokémon but ignore the latent dangers on the streets and roads. According to the report of Screenrant news, a Pokémon player fell into a ditch while searching for a Pokémon and one of the bones in her foot was broken and she needs 6-8 weeks to recover from her injury. Moreover, some people even use their phone to try to capture the Pokémon even if they are driving! That behavior can easily lead to car accidents, cause huge property lost and casualties. To avoid that problem, the government may need to enhance the effects of these laws which prohibit people from using their phones when they are driving cars and in the meantime the game company should remind their customers to be careful while they are looking for the Pokémon to capture in some downtown areas or dangerous places which means there are many roads and the traffic condition is always busy there. 

Another Obstacle

As the developing of AR, a big problem comes out, hacking. Although this problem has existed for decades, it seems more destructive in AR’s world. When we are building a new reality in a more digital way, we need to care about out digital property, too. No matter you believe or not, augmented reality is adding your risk of losing your privacy.

As a fan of Pokémon Go, I will go crazy if someone else steal my pokémons by hacking into your smartphone. People’s privacy in the digital world is not only about money but also about the time costs in the game. If you spend a hundred hours catching and cultivating your pokémons, your account should not be worthless just because you have not pay to the game. Otherwise, it should be valuable since you can exchange money with this account. In the future, AR will keep developing and foreseeable, it will create a digital world based on the physical reality. When more and more people spending more money in AR world, the government most pay attention on it because it may become a big part of the national economy.

Nowadays, the market for “intangible personal property” (in-game items) in the gaming world already commands billions of U.S. dollars and continues to grow substantially every year. People pay for in-game goods with real cash, but generally whoever owns the intellectual property rights to the game itself actually owns the property. Different from today’s digital game, AR is easier to confuse reality because it’s built on the physical world. This means it’s very likely to attract more cash than traditional digital games.

If the government doesn’t do something like making laws and setting a fine to prevent hacking to these properties, more and more conflicts will arise  In order to solve this problem, it’s important to call on  people to think about the legal issues at stake AR virtual world.

Conclusion

Although AR already shows us a fascinating future, there are a lot of new problems come out and need to be solved. Treating them sensibly and logically, believing the potential of human, we can build an unbelievable world with AR.

References:  [1] the explanation of Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR [2] data from sino caijing (Sina Caijing 2017, https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2017-01-14/doc-ifxzqhka3024216.shtml ) [3] the accident is reported by Screenrant, https://screenrant.com/pokemon-go-dangers/ [4] Do you own your virtual property? | Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law, http://www.jetlaw.org/2018/11/03/do-you-own-your-virtual-property/

[5] HYPER-REALITY - YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs

[6] Minecraft Earth: Apple WWDC Gameplay Reveal - YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNo38kNy_EU

Written by: Avan, Andy, Mike