Exit Reality – 3D Virtual Experiences for Everyone

Over the last few weeks I’ve been looking at the new 3D virtual environment “Exit Reality” and seeing how it can be used to enhance language learning.

Exit Reality is one of a few new similar services that are not virtual worlds as such, but instead offer a 3D virtual experience for visiting normal web pages. It is a small add-on program that turns your browser (Firefox or Explorer) into a 3D browser, complete with avatar that can walk around the pages you are viewing in your browser.

It’s an ingenious little tool that allows you to meet and socialize with others who are visiting the same page you are (at that very moment). Exit Reality is designed to work best with social networking pages such as MySpace or Facebook and maps out a MySpace page into a 3D room. So, videos on the MySpace page will always appear on the television set that is in this room. Likewise any audios will be available on the jukebox and images are in painting frames.

Although it is intended for surfing the conventional (2D web) it is possible to also surf 3D spaces that have a simple URL (web page address), such as this jungle scene that I got to walk around recently.

Tools like Exit Reality have the potential to radically change the way we interact with the web, perhaps even to a far greater extent than 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life. It has several advantages, such as there being no need for special graphics cards, a very small download and an interface that integrates with normal web browsers. And best of all, we can visit regular 2D content with a third dimension added.