It is a surprise if something major in the physical world doesn’t receive a digital adaptation. Traditional, as well as other obvious priorities, keeps the world assuming that the physical is better, but this isn’t always the case. People contrast the online with the offline, as if they are completely separate and distinct worlds. Some even go so far as to seek to invalidate the experience of one and promote the other as superior. It is often the digital which gets putdown, deemed less “real”. This is fine.
In some contexts and arguments it is right to question the role of the digital and seek other solutions and remedies. However, the digital is often blanketed as a nether world, of sorts – a place far less fruitful and healthy than the physical one. The good it achieves and does is forgotten before it quickly amazes again. One of these amazing things it can do is make the physical world more accessible, especially when it comes to the world’s leading attractions. Not everyone can get to and enjoy these places. Yet, with the help of digital solutions, they can explore, understand, and internalise these spaces and places. Here are five examples.
Museums
Museums have been using digital technology to further customer experience for a number of years already. AR and VR are two examples. For instance, at the Louvre, they used headsets to give visitors, in-person and remote, more time with da Vince’s Mona Lisa. At the physical Louvre, there’s isn’t much time to really take in the painting, spend time with it, as the queue behind you is extensive and eager, so you are moved along quickly. At the museum itself, visitors can use provided VR headsets to get within the world of the Mona Lisa. But here you will still receive time pressure.
Remote options, then, become ideal for getting to know the painting. The VR experience enables the audience to see not only the Mona Lisa, though, but other da Vinci paintings. They can zoom in on sections and learn about the painting’s stories.
Another example is of the Forbidden City/Palace Museum in Beijing, China. They livestream a virtual tour, and have done so for a number of years, being early adopters of this practice. Millions of views have been amassed. When done correctly and efficiently, guides will be able to answer questions from attendees in real time and, possibly, as can’t be achieved in large groups, get even closer and more in-depth with certain areas of historical sites or artefacts.
Casinos
Brick-and-mortar casinos have long been popular destinations for those looking for a week on holiday or for more experienced and frequent gamblers. They’re historically significant. Since the 1990s, when the internet first started becoming more commercialised and available in residential contexts. During the late part of the decade, the amount of online casinos available grew rapidly. One of the conveniences of online casinos was that they are far more accessible than their brick-and-mortar counterparts.
As such, when smartphone technology developed at accelerated rates, so did the online casino industry. It is now a multi-multi-billion dollar industry, with journalistic ventures and other supporting websites and publications where customers can read casino review sites and keep up-to-date with the latest ongoings.
Casino sites hold some of the traditional aspects of brick-and-mortar ones close to their hearts. For instance, roulette, slots, and poker are all staples. Even the general aesthetic is kept consistent. The 80s-patterned-carpet vibe of slot rooms is tangible on certain sites while the luxury and glamour of places like Las Vegas and Monte Carlo exudes from others. However, they do move in their own direction, offering customers bonuses to improve their bankrolls and have free attempts at games which cannot be acquired at their land-based versions, as well as a huge variety of games. It’s in these details where gamers will see the competition between online casinos. OLBG reviews are a good way to see this. The main selling points are the bonuses, free spins, and the wide variety of games.
Online casinos may commit further to their digital presence as things like 5G and VR enable developers to push beyond existing limits of experience and what games can be, until then, though, they remain visibly indebted and gamers enjoy this familiarity.
Live Events: Sports and Music
TV cameras have made one-off events like sports matches and music performances far more accessible. Some of the first televised sporting events occurred in the 1930s. Music had always been a staple of television during these years with the variety of presenters and talent shows who sang original and known numbers. Since then, these kinds of shows and performances have become more common. Leading to what we have today.
Sports stadiums and arenas receive their digital treatment with VR captures of live, physical games, which fans can tune into. However, they are also animated in video games. These video games – such as the Madden series, the NBA 2k series, the FIFA series – all host esports competitions which means that these stadiums and arenas host competitive matches in the digital realm.
Secondly, while there are those who livestream concerts, artists like Travis Scott, Post Malone, and Lil Nas X all performed virtual concerts in various video game settings, enabling gamers to attend the performance with their in-game avatars and be active, rather than simply sit and watch their set passively.
Shopping
Online shopping is probably the most common attraction in the digital realm. In fact, physical shopping is actually seeing the consequence of digital shopping in their shopping malls and in their town and city centres.
As with all digital forms, convenience is the key, allowing customers to access their stock in their own time, at their own place, tailoring searches to what they need while allowing them to wander and find unsuspecting things easily. However, shops are seeing the benefits too, as they can reduce their overheads and go digital-only. It is this last point which causes problems for councils, as they try to adapt living spaces in light of these developments.
The World Itself
Saving the big one until last. Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2020 allows gamers, on a screen and in VR, to see the world. This world isn’t the awkward and ugly digital representations of yesteryear, though. It is almost surreally realistic. Take flight and see your home, the Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids, the Pyrenees – whatever, wherever. The world is quite literally there.