The commonly accepted idea of a Metaverse stems from science fiction, where it is portrayed as a shared and persistent virtual world. Since its introduction by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, the Metaverse has been interpreted in a number of ways. In most imaginings of the Metaverse, virtual reality (VR) is the one technology that is most closely tied to it. This course will introduce you to the basics of VR with focus on learning to build VR systems. The course will cover the design of VR using the Unity game engine. Students taking the class will complete a set of programming assignments and a group project.
You do not need to own a VR headset to take this course. Prerequisite: upper-division standing and prior programming experience.