Idea Info Name: Full, Fluid Body Control Index: Primary Category: Hardware Submitted: 11/4/2002 10:05:20 AM Written By: Jintao

A Revolution in Realistic and Immersive Gameplay

You all know about the virtual reality glove, I assume.  My idea takes this to a whole new level.  I know very well that it could cost an arm, leg, kidney, lung and frontal lobe of the brain, but I thought, "Eh, what the hell; I'll share my idea."

My idea is a full body virtual reality suit with what I've coined as a stationary mobility pad that would track your movements precisely, giving a truly immersive gaming experience.

From here on in, I'll use Eidos' cult classic "Thief: The Dark Project," the immensely popular Electronic Arts' "Medal of Honor: Allied Assault," and the already immersive and realistic Bethesda Softworks' "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind," as examples of how things would work.

The Suit

Anyone who's played "Medal of Honor: Allied Assault" online (I'll just call it MOHAA from now on) knows about the ability given to the player to lean from side to side, giving the ability to shoot around corners without exposing so much of your body.  Same goes with "Thief: The Dark Project" (just "Thief" from now on), only adding the ability to lean forward while adding many more stealth capabilities.  And in "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind," (just "Morrowind" from now on) there is the fatigue meter, which lowers every time you swing a sword, get hit, or run, decreasing with it the accuracy of your swings and your dodge rate.

How would you like to be able to control every aspect of that through your own body?  You'd put on a suit and when you come up to the corner, you lean your body to the side or even just your head, and watch or listen or take your shot.

The suit would track the every movement of your body and the wireframe model of your character would change with it.  Real-time modelling and rendering, controlled by what your body does.  It would be like you're the character you're controlling in the game, doing everything that they do.  If you got into a fist fight, you could bend your body around their blows and then throw your own punches.  If someone is shooting at you, you could run in something of a strafe while twisting your body around to shoot back at them.  Picture that in a "mech" game.

Stationary Mobility Pad

Think of a treadmill that you move with your feet in any direction.  Picture it using optical tracking technology (like in an optical mouse) to watch which direction you're walking.  Combine that with the suit.  You can now walk and run without leaving your spot.

There are some things that need to be ironed out about this pad.  For instance, what if you go into the prone position and need to roll out of the way of something?  Or maybe you need to jump onto a ledge; how would the pad withstand the force of your jump, or how would the suit know how to handle the jump?  I don't know.  I need more brainstorming for this.

Realistic Accessories

Okay, so you're suited up and you're standing on the pad.  Now you're in the battlefield of MOHAA.  How exactly are you gonna shoot people with this suit?  Do you make a gesture in the air like you're holding an invisible gun?  Pff!, no way.

Now that you're in the game, you need to have a weapon.  Pick up simulated weaponry.  Picture yourself holding a fake Thompson submachine gun hooked up to your computer.  Now add some ingenuity; for kickback simulation, put a weight that pumps against the back of the gun inside the gun for every time the gun fires a "bullet."  For reloading (this part gets tricky with guns that don't use conventional clips, or any clips at all), you pull out the clip on the simulated weapon.  The clip will have two little LED lights, one red and one green.  While the light is red, you can't put the clip back in or else it'll not count as a reload, but once the light turns green you can put it in.  You have to go through all the steps of reloading, too, like if it were a pistol, you'd let the clip drop out, then put it back in and pull the barrel forward 'til it clicks.  If I'm not making sense, then it's probably because I'm not an expert on firearms.

Okay, so maybe you're not playing an FPS.  Maybe you're playing a game like Morrowind, and you need a bow and arrow, or a crossbow, or a sword and shield.  This could get tricky, and I'm still working on the projectile weapons part.  But the swords, axes, shields -- all those hand-held, non-projectile weapons -- could easily be simulated.  In fact, it has, more or less, already been done.