Heimburger - Yamamoto: Intermission 2 / Story 2 (56-85)

Virtual social environments and forms of digital communication were developed as tools to help maintain real-world relationships but, in many cases, have acted as replacement mediators. I view virtual spaces such as the Internet, social media and messaging applications purely as tools, so the ability to communicate doesn't really change for me. I feel slightly more comfortable with online communication due to the fact that I can take the time to calculate my messages and responses to other people. However, I still am aware of what the messages I send imply and convey and that they are still displaying a message to another person, so online communication cannot totally provide me the comfort to say whatever I wish.
When it comes to virtual social environments like the one in Virtual Romance in Space, the comfort that communication tools provide often blend reality with virtual reality. The way the world is described in this story often illustrates how the virtual world is so vivid it may as well act as a substitute for the real one, especially for those who struggle in their real lives socially. The scene where they confront the dinosaur and run away in real, responsive fear was reminiscent of the Sensorama, an early prototype of virtual reality developed in 1965 by Morton Heilig. The Sensorama was an arcade-style cabinet designed to engage every sense except smell. It is also very similar to the "feelies" described in Brave New World, which create a complete sensory experience for the audience and become so popular that they eventually overshadow traditional films. Story 2 also seemed to draw upon the recent development of MMORPGs, where players become extremely involved with the personas they develop to a point of escape. World of Warcraft, League of Legends and some early MUDs seem to bear resemblance to the virtual worlds of NONMaRs and MUGEN Net. Most of all, Japan's technological history and the increasing role it's played in shaping Japanese culture seems to ground the story in real, historical events. 
The tone of the book clearly indicates itself as a translation of a Japanese novel, as almost all the characters in the story have Japanese names and live in real locations in Japan. In addition, although the translation does not make anything unclear, the stories seem to emphasize Japanese cultural values that might be somewhat foreign to American audiences. Many of the stories emphasize the themes of youth, isolation, virtual relationships and learning to live in a highly technologically developed world. English readers most likely understand many of these themes, but the book seems to push away from living in reality rather than towards it. As an anthology, it plays on the ideas of people's thoughts being fragmented. In a sociological way, the stories compete for the readers' attention as establishing why their themes are important, despite the fact that they are in many ways similar. I think the story wants to establish small points about technology in the world instead of trying to reach an absolute conclusion.

Sources:
https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/history.html

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