Virtual Hunting

This one comes under the heading, “Ain’t technology great!” Since video and computer games have for a long time now, offered people the opportunity to engage in the fantasy of playing Rambo or James Bond with a full arsenal of weapons at their disposal, it comes as no surprise that someone is taking the whole shooting experience to a new level.

I just discovered that you can subscribe to a website that has a real rifle set up on a Texas shooting range that you control while sitting at the computer in your family room. In an attempt to make this experience a little more realistic, there are four cameras along with the aiming of the gun and the trigger release. One camera is on the target, one mounted on the rifle scope, and two others that pan the area. Oh, and there is an attendant sitting behind the gun (hopefully the aiming mechanism has limit stops), who is probably secretly laughing at you for paying $15/month plus $6 for every ten shots.

Ok, so this all sounds like the kind of thing that would appeal to 11 year-old boys who live in the big city and have never had the opportunity to shoot a gun, right? And it also sounds like something that would get old after you do it twice, right?
But we’re both not thinking far enough ahead.

According to the L.A. Times , these folks are planning to up the ante and introduce real live moving targets for the virtual hunter to shoot. I’m not kidding. They are considering giving the armchair hunter the option of shooting several different kinds of live animals, such as antelope, sheep and wild hogs. Now, even though I’m fine with people hunting for food when that is part of their normal lifestyle, I've never had much regard for the killing of animals for sport. This situation is made worse because the animals in question normally hang out on one side of an open field, and then when they get hungry, head over for dinner which they know will be on the opposite side of the field. The open field is of course where you are sitting, at least virtually, with your rifle. It’s more like a shooting gallery than a hunting experience.

What’s next you ask? I hesitate to speculate, but I can’t help it. Lets say that the whole idea of real-life virtual experiences (is that an oxymoron?) catches on. How much would people pay to be looking through a helmet-mounted video camera on a fireman entering a burning building? or how about an Iraqi soldier on patrol? or maybe a real African Safari?

For me this whole thing is a little too much like a bad science fiction movie. It’s all just a little too detached and surreal. But unfortunately even if the hunting thing never takes off, I sadly predict that other virtual adventure ideas will quickly become big business. We can only hope that someone is working on a real working Holo Deck (re: Star Trek) before too many animals or people get killed trying to satisfy armchair adventurers.