A Survey of CVE Technologies and Systems

A few years ago, Virtual Reality technologies and Virtual Environments were seen by some as a panacea and the computer interface of the future. VR received a lot of attention in the media and devices such as head mounted displays or data gloves have become widely recognised. Of particular interest was the ability to realise a vision that had been described in a number of science fiction novels: providing a parallel world in which it would be possible to be present, interact and feel as if in the real world. This vision is realised by Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs). CVEs are three-dimensional computer-generated environments where users are represented by avatars and can navigate and interact in real-time independently of their physical location. While the technology has not lived up to early expectations, real niched applications and the success of networked games have shown its viability and promises. This report summarises a number of the technologies that are commonly used to interface with virtual environments. Additionally, it presents some of the major CVE systems to date and isolates a number of trends when it comes to network architectures, protocols and techniques and to software choices