VIRTUAL

REALITIES
 DEFINITION
Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with
software and presented to the user in such a way that the user
suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. On a
computer, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two
of the five senses: sight and sound.

The simplest form of virtual reality is a3-D image that can be

explored interactively at a personal computer, usually by
manipulating keys or the mouse so that the content of the
image moves in some direction or zooms in or out. More
sophisticated efforts involve such approaches as wrap-around
display screens, actual rooms augmented with wearable
computers, andhapticsdevices that let you feel the display
images.
Virtual reality can be divided into:
The simulation of a real environment for training and education.
The development of an imagined environment for a game or
interactive story.

SOURCE: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-reality
 LITERARY WORK:

FlickerFadeGone
by Carljoe Javier
 Summary
A seven year old little boy was walking down the street
with his father went in through the aisles of an arcade full
of boys hunching over the machines tapping away at the
buttons and swinging joysticks, their bodies twisting on
each of the games rhythms they are playing.
His father plays space invaders, but he died quickly. His
father put in a new quarter, but he died again, then
another set of game. On his last game, the coin slot
jammed. So, his father went to the store keeper.
 The storekeeper wore a nylon necklace and keys hanging on it. The
storekeeper take the necklace off and put the key into the hole and fix,
the machine started up again. He could still remember the machine
and what he felt when the game started. The man controls all the
games, power and pleasure to his hand or on that necklace with keys.
The only thing he couldnt remember was what the man looked like.
Then, the boy used to dream of disappearing. He's facing the mirror
and trying to disappear. First, he used to stare at his reflection at the
mirror and then he imagine that his reflection disappears. That he was
no longer there.
 For his mother caught him staring at the mirror alone,
asks him why is he doing that. Then, he explains the
reason why as his mother grabs his ear and pull him out
of the house and encourage him to mingle with the kids
outside that are in reality are loud, rowdy and rough.
Because of the way the kids treat him, he found his self as
somebody inside the loud machines of the arcade. He felt
the glimpse of him as a real person in the electronic
world.
 When the rest of his family migrated, he dropped out of
school and started work as the shopkeeper of the arcade.
He became the master of the key he had been longing for
since his first visit to the arcade.
He lived a life centered in the arcade station until he met
his Princess Toadstool. She is a usual arcade visitor that
goes every Sunday with her family. She was the reason
why the guy was brought back to the world. He changed
his perspective about being a superhero not only inside
those loud machines but the possibility of portraying it in
the real world.
 This typical Friday came, and Princess Toadstool together
with his friends came. An incident happened inside the
arcade where the boy with Princess Toadstool, also known
as King Koopa in the boys perspective, started calling the
girl st*p#d, a waste of time, and a mistake to hung out
with. At the same moment, he saved the princess by
grabbing King Koopas collar and leading him out of the
arcade. The girl thanked him.
 After that day, he did not play games. On Sunday, the girl went in
with her brothers. The boy felt disappointed as the girl did not
even notice and remember his good deed last time when he was
fixing the machine where the girl is playing. He felt so down and
alone and think that people only notice him because of the key hes
wearing that has the capability in fixing those slot machines in the
arcade. By this he realized that the key is his personality because
people only approach him when they needed turn of the key like
what he remembered when he was young, he only remembered the
key but not the holder/person whos owningit.
 He played again, waited until he wasalone. Hisface began
fading away waited until it haddisappeared. Themorning
came, the guard saw the gun hanging from its arcade machine
and also the guard saw the copy of the arcades masterkey.
Eventhe owner doesnt remembered what the boy lookedlike.
The arcades owner replaced one of the machine because it
wouldnt accept tokens and the display following a distinct
rhythm: bang, bang, bang, reload. This was actually his
rhythm, his own rhythm he made only on his mind.
 Analysis
Flicker Fade Gone concentrated on a boys story that has been addicted to arcade or
video games. This story is about seeking our comfort zone with someone or something. It
just chanced that that boy found that someone, his comfort zone into an arcade game or
video games.

The arcade became the boys world where he can fit in, a place where he can easily
extend his wings and fly with no uncertainties, a place where in he can passionately
articulate his self with no rules and limitations, a place he can command everything what
he wants. As if he went into another aspect, an aspect wherein he is so potent and he is
the boss, an aspect different from the dimension of reality. He enjoyed every moment he
had on playing those video games, because it is his perfect time to unwind, to escape
from the reality and to be free from the stress and problems he has on the real world. He
felt enormous and somebody every time he plays those video games because its the
opposite of the reality, the reality wherein he felt small to this big world, as if nobody
cares for him, nobody could notice him. He's like a thin air passing through us. He feels
invisible and worthless. That's why the world of arcade is very important to him, because
for him, its theonly thing that he had.

The moral of this story is that its not bad that sometimes in our life that we dream to live
in a fantasy world, we are considering ourselves to be a princess living in a wonderful
castle treated like a royal person by everyone. But we have to waken up ourselves on the
truth that those stories are just our imagination and will remain as fantasies. We have to
 QUESTION 1

How is Virtual Reality

depicted on the
story?
 Answer:
In the story, FlickerFadeGone by Carljoe Javier, talks a gamers point of
view. It shows how fantasies differs from the reality. In the story, virtual
reality, when the boy realized that what he dreamt in the virtual reality
will never become real. He realized that when he knew that people never
really knew him at all, he was known as the guy who hold the keys, to find
the jammed coins in the gaming machines. It talks about how virtual
reality affects a person on how he socializes with other people, that video
games are not good for people because it shapes our mind to believe that
the fantasy world is the real world. The boy realized that the graphic
world was not for him, that he should start fixing his life and socialize with
other people, so he didnt come back to the arcade.
 QUESTION 2

How technology (i.e. video

games) affects the
thinking and behavior of
the youth?
 Answer:
Videos has a lot of advantages and disadvantages that a person can get. How it
will help and not help a person behavior especially in socializing with other
people.
Advantages:
Helps a person a person thinks creative ways to achieve ones goal in the
game or solve puzzles and other problems in short bursts. Helps improve a
persons analytical thinking.
Helps a person improve his hand-eye coordination, find motor and spatial
skills.
Helps a person in multitasking, simultaneous tracking of many shifting
variables and managing multiple objectives.
Improves a persons perseverance, wherein a person never gives up, keeps on
trying until he succeeds.
It helps a person to improve his or her memory, especially in memorizing codes
or places while playing in the game.
Helps a person improves his concentration
Disadvantages:
A person is introduced to violence, which a game contains. It makes a person
behave emphatically.
A person is isolated, worsening his ability to socialize
A person tends to be aggressive.
Videos games teaches children the wrong values.
Games confuses people the sense of reality from fantasy.
Bad effects on childrens health that leads to obesity, skeletal disorders, and
etc.
Children is vulnerable to bad language and bad behaviors showed in the
games
Addiction