In computer news this week, 07/11/2000

When it comes to virtual reality, I'll take reality virtually every time.

Virtual reality games - computer simulation of real world activities - put on those funny glasses and computer headgear - and you can participate in all kinds of games and activities. All from the safety of your computer and never leave your house.

Computer games have been evolving over the years. I can remember people going gaga over Microsoft flight simulator back in the 80's. It was a great game, if you liked flying, which I don't. It made me dizzy and anxious. It's still around, along with thousands of other simulation computer games, all of which simulate real world activities.

For people who like bicycle riding, there's virtual reality software that lets you join the current Tour de France and try to win that coveted yellow jersey. I have a friend who's really into biking, and he told me once that he hates riding his bike inside. In the winter he rides a stationery bike and if he wanted to he could watch a bike video or play computer simulations, but he doesn't. He just wants for the good weather to come around, so he can feel the breeze in his face and the sun beating down on him.

I have another friend who's into motorcycle trips. He changes into his Bronson character in the summer, and heads out across America. He could buy a computer simulation program that would let him do the same thing, pick the highways and areas he wants to visit, and see a 360 degree panorama of all the sights in those areas in wonderful, lifelike high resolution computer simulation. But he wants to wear that hot helmet and pick the bugs out of his teeth, sleep in a sleeping bag at night, make coffee over a campfire in the morning, talk to local people, and see America.

I have another friend who likes to think of himself as a pool hustler. He's looked at the billiard and pool simulations, but he scoffs at them. "Where's the smoke filled rooms? Where's the cuspidors on the floor? None of that computer stuff for me; I want to feel the felt."

This is not to say at all that these games and simulators are not good or fun. In fact, they're marvelous. Some of the golf games are tremendous; giving you the opportunity to go one on one with the Golden Bear himself. I got hooked on one of the early bass fishing games years ago. It was nowhere near the quality of fishing simulations today, but you could choose your lure; decide where to cast; choose what part of the lake you wanted to try, and you'd catch fish too; virtual fish that you couldn't eat. It was a really good game, but I stopped playing it.

I'm anxious to drive down to a bass lake I haven't fished in years, pull out my old tackle box with real jitterbugs and silver spoon lures, try to open my old jar of pork rinds with a top that's probably rusted tight, and cast a real lure into a real lake. I want to rent a rowboat from an old geezer whose store looks like someone picked it up and shook it real good a few years ago, put my money down in the clutter of his cash register, and ask him where the fish are biting. I want to feel the oars in my hand as I row out to a spot that looks good; drop anchor; pick up my rod and reel, and make my first cast in years. Then I'll hear the lure hit the lake, see the water splash, and then just sit there for awhile; enjoying the sunlight, smelling the water, hearing the birds and insects, feeling the boat rock, and reliving - in total reality - happy memories of my boyhood fishing.

Virtual reality games ? Maybe for some city slicker in Manhattan, but not for me.

For Raw Bytes, this is Frank Delaney

POB 222

Spangle, WA 99031

(509) 245-3736

fdspokane@aol.com