VR Terms pt. 2

If virtual reality strives to takes users and immerse them in new environments, presence is what's achieved when that happens. Plain and simple, users feel like they're there, wherever "there" is.

Broadly, this is a bit of a philosophical underpinning of virtual reality; Forbes defines it as a "collective virtual reality," but there's plenty of debate about what that applies to and really, what exactly that is. A suggestion: check out Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson. It's a 1992 sci-fi that envisions a metaverse.

There is a difference between virtual reality and 360-degree video. The latter is less immersive and typically keeps the viewer in a fixed point surrounded by roughly 360 degrees of video. This is what you're most likely to see if you're playing around with YouTube 360 or Google Cardboard apps. Purists will say that 360 video is not actually virtual reality.

Stitching is the process of taking footage from different cameras, like GoPro cameras that have been used in a 360 camera mount, and combining that footage into spherical video. The process usually involves reorienting video, placing seams, and generally editing it so that it looks like one continuous view, rather than a patchwork of angles.