Max FaceLift
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Posted - 2005.11.04 07:46:00 -
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EVE must implement multi-monitor support at some time in the future. Our quaint desktop "window" into cyberspace is a paradigm that has reached the end of its usefulness. The only question is, how soon will CCP make that investment? 
We are accustomed to thinking of "virtual reality" (VR) as something that involves the gloves, headseat, what have you, with full immersion in the gaming environment - basically a first-person view that is rendered based on head position, and is interacted with in an intuitive manner w/o clumsy input peripherals.
In reality, virtual reality became a reality with the first video games - first text-based, then 2D, and finally 3D, and now the 3D MMO and our case in point, a galactic cyberspace par excellence. We are a (very) short step from transitioning into widespread availability of full-fledged VR (at the home PC level); the processing power is there, the graphics tools are there, the last piece of the puzzle is simply making practical and affordable headsets/eyewear incorporating already existing multi-monitor technology & software support.
What's this got to do with EVE? EVE Online is most definitely a virtual reality - 'cyberspace' in the fullest sense of the word. If CCP wants EVE to survive this technological paradigm shift - indeed, to thrive off of it - they will need to be prepared for it when it gets here. One of the fundamental requirements the EVE of the future will have to meet is multi-monitor capability for dual-monitor stereoscopic rendering at minimum.
Realistically, CCP should expect to have to code for multi-monitor support above and beyond basic stereo vision support. What about anyone else in the room? They should be able to avail themselves of "old-school" monitors to get a window on the action, and have independent control of camera angle & looks for each monitor (or virtual monitor - i.e., could have 4 split-screen windows on an HDTV, for instance). 
And then of course there's the matter of VR 'rooms'. Imagine the EVE LAN party Bill Gates could have in his house, with its LCD-display walls - each wall of a room part of a 4-screen array giving a full "surround vision" effect... and each room would have its own client... but, I ramble. 
And how about some experimentation with the visual apparatus... give pilots an unprecedented feature that throws the genetically-programmed forward-facing bi-focal vision of the primate to the scrap-heap and grants the pilot the ability to see a full 360¦ sphere, thus gaining a full view of threats, allies, and prey in all three dimensions. It would be hideously disorienting at first, but would be interesting to see how the human animal adapts to such sensory augmentation. 
* Max DeathWish shudders at the sudden thought of hardcore capsuleers being shunned in the real world, as their freaky independently rotating eyes can't re-adjust to normal bi-focal vision, giving them a uniquely identifiable case of 'wandering eyes' that sets them apart as pariahs... "it's a freakin' pod-boy! git 'im!"... but hey, that could never happen, right? 
How long will you keep us confined to this suffocating window into our cyberspace, CCP? When will you set us free to see it as it was meant to be seen? Gah! 
Max DeathWish (i have a dream!)
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