Walt Disney Imagineering has developed a high-fidelity virtual reality (VR) attraction where guests fly a magic carpet through a virtual world based on the animated film "Aladdin." We fielded the system at EPCOT Center for a period of fourteen months and conducted controlled experiments, observing the reactions of over 45,000 guests. Our major finding is that in a high fidelity VR experience, men and women of all ages suspend disbelief and accept the illusion that they are in a different place. We have found that in VR, as in all media, content matters. Novices are unimpressed with the technology for its own sake; they care about what there is to do in the virtual world.

Randy Pausch is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Virginia. He received a B.S. in Computer Science from Brown University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon in 1988. He is a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. In 1995, he spent a Sabbatical with the Walt Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio.

ADDED BONUS: the talk will also include a short live demo of the Alice 3D graphics authoring environment being developed at the University of Virginia.