Leighton Evans – författare

In this short book, Evans interrogates the implications of VR’s re-emergence into the media mainstream, critiquing the notion of a VR revolution by analysing the development and ownership of VR companies while also exploring the possibilities of immersion in VR and the importance of immersion in the interest and ownership of VR enterprises. He assesses how the ideologies and desires of both computer programmers and major Silicon Valley industries may influence how VR worlds are conceived and experienced by users while also exploring the mechanisms that create the immersive experience that underpins interest in the medium.

In this short book, Evans interrogates the implications of VR’s re-emergence into the media mainstream, critiquing the notion of a VR revolution by analysing the development and ownership of VR companies while also exploring the possibilities of immersion in VR and the importance of immersion in the interest and ownership of VR enterprises. He assesses how the ideologies and desires of both computer programmers and major Silicon Valley industries may influence how VR worlds are conceived and experienced by users while also exploring the mechanisms that create the immersive experience that underpins interest in the medium.

In cities around the world, digital technologies are utilized to manage city services and infrastructures, to govern urban life, to solve urban issues and to drive local and regional economies. While "smart city" advocates are keen to promote the benefits of smart urbanism – increased efficiency, sustainability, resilience, competitiveness, safety and security – critics point to the negative effects, such as the production of technocratic governance, the corporatization of urban services, technological lock-ins, privacy harms and vulnerability to cyberattack.

This book, through a range of international case studies, suggests social, political and practical interventions that would enable more equitable and just smart cities, reaping the benefits of smart city initiatives while minimizing some of their perils.

Included are case studies from Ireland, the United States of America, Colombia, the Netherlands, Singapore, India and the United Kingdom. These chapters discuss a range of issues including political economy, citizenship, standards, testbedding, urban regeneration, ethics, surveillance, privacy and cybersecurity. This book will be of interest to urban policymakers, as well as researchers in Regional Studies and Urban Planning.

In cities around the world, digital technologies are utilized to manage city services and infrastructures, to govern urban life, to solve urban issues and to drive local and regional economies. While "smart city" advocates are keen to promote the benefits of smart urbanism – increased efficiency, sustainability, resilience, competitiveness, safety and security – critics point to the negative effects, such as the production of technocratic governance, the corporatization of urban services, technological lock-ins, privacy harms and vulnerability to cyberattack.

This book, through a range of international case studies, suggests social, political and practical interventions that would enable more equitable and just smart cities, reaping the benefits of smart city initiatives while minimizing some of their perils.

Included are case studies from Ireland, the United States of America, Colombia, the Netherlands, Singapore, India and the United Kingdom. These chapters discuss a range of issues including political economy, citizenship, standards, testbedding, urban regeneration, ethics, surveillance, privacy and cybersecurity. This book will be of interest to urban policymakers, as well as researchers in Regional Studies and Urban Planning.

While the metaverse is often marketed as a future utopia, the vision of the metaverse represents an attempt for private corporations to control the code of the real. In the hands of companies that established and maintain the surveillance capitalism model, the ability to build a persistent, all-compassing environment means all activity in that world can be metricized and commodified, making the metaverse worthy of critical examination.

Significant parts of life are already conducted in a digital place that combines various aspects of digital culture. Likewise, digital worlds for socializing already exist, and in a form akin to the VR metaverse, just as VR worlds based on play now coexist with online worlds of user generated content. These discreet private “microverses”, as we refer to them, are spaces which can model the tensions that would be inherent in the metaverse.

From Microverse to Metaverse: Modelling the Future through Today''s Virtual Worlds examines the place attachments, world-feeling and dwelling of several “microverses” to assess the possibilities of the metaverse as a realistic proposition. Critically analyzing the phenomenological feeling of place, the political economy of emerging tech, the mechanisms of identity and self along with the behavioral constraints involved, the authors map what a metaverse might be like, whether it can happen, and just why some companies seem so determined to make it happen.

While the metaverse is often marketed as a future utopia, the vision of the metaverse represents an attempt for private corporations to control the code of the real. In the hands of companies that established and maintain the surveillance capitalism model, the ability to build a persistent, all-compassing environment means all activity in that world can be metricized and commodified, making the metaverse worthy of critical examination.

Significant parts of life are already conducted in a digital place that combines various aspects of digital culture. Likewise, digital worlds for socializing already exist, and in a form akin to the VR metaverse, just as VR worlds based on play now coexist with online worlds of user generated content. These discreet private “microverses”, as we refer to them, are spaces which can model the tensions that would be inherent in the metaverse.

From Microverse to Metaverse: Modelling the Future through Today''s Virtual Worlds examines the place attachments, world-feeling and dwelling of several “microverses” to assess the possibilities of the metaverse as a realistic proposition. Critically analyzing the phenomenological feeling of place, the political economy of emerging tech, the mechanisms of identity and self along with the behavioral constraints involved, the authors map what a metaverse might be like, whether it can happen, and just why some companies seem so determined to make it happen.

This volume contains an Open Access Chapter

Offering a comprehensive and research-oriented survey of the emergence of virtual reality (VR) into the gaming mainstream, Virtual Reality Gaming delves into the complexities of VR gaming, emphasising immersion, embodiment, and player presence.

As the first study to critically assess and systematically investigate the phenomenon of VR Gaming through the tripartite lens of embodiment, presence, and immersion, established and emerging voices in the field discuss the unique aspects of VR games and the challenges they present to researchers and designers with regards to re-conceptualising the relationship between system, player and game play – in essence, a reconsideration of the human-computer interface (HCI) of gaming. Each chapter develops the existing scholarship on all these areas, creating a discourse on each element of embodiment, presence, and immersion that will improve the understanding of all these concepts in the context of gaming and VR.

A major contribution to the fields of gaming, HCI, VR and media studies, Virtual Reality Gaming is of interest not only to scholars, students and academics researching within this area, but also to practitioners and professionals in the gaming industry.

This volume contains an Open Access Chapter

Offering a comprehensive and research-oriented survey of the emergence of virtual reality (VR) into the gaming mainstream, Virtual Reality Gaming delves into the complexities of VR gaming, emphasising immersion, embodiment, and player presence.

As the first study to critically assess and systematically investigate the phenomenon of VR Gaming through the tripartite lens of embodiment, presence, and immersion, established and emerging voices in the field discuss the unique aspects of VR games and the challenges they present to researchers and designers with regards to re-conceptualising the relationship between system, player and game play – in essence, a reconsideration of the human-computer interface (HCI) of gaming. Each chapter develops the existing scholarship on all these areas, creating a discourse on each element of embodiment, presence, and immersion that will improve the understanding of all these concepts in the context of gaming and VR.

A major contribution to the fields of gaming, HCI, VR and media studies, Virtual Reality Gaming is of interest not only to scholars, students and academics researching within this area, but also to practitioners and professionals in the gaming industry.