Virtual reality (VR) is currently on the horizon of mainstream adoption. It is a medium still taking it’s first steps through infancy, having regained popularity in 2013. In a few months the Oculus Rift will be released, and with it new interaction models will need to be developed. It will bring about a drastic change in not only the way that we experience technology, but also how designers create those experiences.

Through the immersion of space, VR places us in virtual environments that allow for movement and observation as though we really exist within them. With computer interfaces, we are presented with frames to other worlds . Frames through which we can watch, consume and create. VR will place us inside of those frames, facilitating innate experiences which will transcend those that technology brought about before. As with the adoption of all new technology, VR will face challenges in gaining traction. There is a level of unfamiliarity that is difficult to bridge, and it will be our job as designers to help guide users through the unknown territory that it brings.

Skeuomorphism will surely help with VR’s adoption. It describes an interface’s mimicry of real life objects; Apple did a great job of implementing this with the iPhone. Upon it’s release their notepad app, for instance, used rulings and margins typically found on a piece of lined paper. The necessity of this is questionable: when typing you don’t need a guide to help align your writing as the text is already being written on a straight path. However, the lines and margins were left in to aid a users intuitive understanding of the applications function. Whilst they might not have been a necessity, they were necessary for conveying the applications purpose by drawing parallels between itself and real life objects that evoke familiarity, and therefor intuitive use. A lot of designers now happen to hate skeuomorphism, complaining of its non-necessity in the face of minimalism and function. But it is essential in order to adopt new technologies; to help transition the masses from the old to the new.

Website’s will evolve. Examining retail, currently the existing model of online promotion and sales is limited to the two-dimensionality of the computer screen. You can see the image of a product, but that’s it. You can’t pick it up to see how it feels, nor can you try it on to see how it looks. With virtual reality this will change. Rather than cataloguing items we will be able to create the experience of a store itself, allowing users to walk around and interact with it at will. Through this skeuomorphism will evolve. But rather than imitating real life objects, we will imitate real life places, opening up the challenges to the designer on a whole new dimension in the design of space.

This is where the role of the architect could come into play. In forming a symbiotic relationship with games designers, they’ve already helped excel realism in the gaming industry. By applying their knowledge and expertise in the creation of space, we will be able to design and develop immersive, realistic environments, with creativity not stunted by the conventions of physics.

Game designers will likely see their place in the creation of VR interfaces as well, outside the application of pure gaming on the platform. They have invaluable experience when it comes to creating interactive 3d experiences, and their ability to create immersive worlds in which the user has a real presence is unparalleled.

The moral implications of virtual reality are vast, but the extent of its implications unknown. With the ability to now transport ourselves from this world into another, we can leave all of our troubles behind to escape our own difficult realities. This is often referred to as escapism.

Addiction in gaming is already one issue that has been criticized by the media for isolating individuals and instating them with a social disconnect. In drastic cases, the blame of mass shootings and crimes have been placed upon the medium; often First Person Shooters are the main target. As we look to create these new worlds through interfaces this cannot be neglected, or else Virtual Reality could suffer severe backlash that may be difficult to recover from.

All of these factors will heavily influence the role of the UX designer. Instead of a focus on the design of two dimensional Graphical User interfaces, we will have to tackle the depths of immersive 3D content and environments. We won’t be able to succeed at this alone, and here is where the roles of the architect and the games designer will be our invaluable aid; potentially creating a new role of designer that synthesizes the three practices. As an extension of this, the tools that each of these practices use in the execution of their own work, will likely undergo an amalgamation that enables the fluid design of virtual environments and interfaces. Adobe and Autodesk, its time to partner up.

Ansel Adams was an American photographer and Environmentalist, notably remembered for his black and white landscape photographs of Yosemite national park . Essentially, his aims were the same as ours; using technology to share experiences. My favorite quote of his is this: “In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.” . I believe that just as Ansel sought to stimulate new experiences through his photography, we too as UX Designers, Game Designers and Architects must aspire to stimulate new experiences together through VR, instilling our users with the awe of exploration that we too will experience in creating them.