Playing games with my brother taught me that connections can be made with another person through virtual reality. Things like cooperation, shared problem-solving, and communication in gaming can strengthen relationships. Most importantly, gaming taught me that no matter the differences between me and another person, we can find common ground through play.

Virtual reality meets this bar when it comes to one-on-one conversations: when we analyzed the EEG results of participants who chatted in virtual reality, we found that on average they were within the optimal range of cognitive effort. To put it another way, participants in virtual reality were neither bored nor overstimulated. They were also in the ideal zone for remembering and processing information.

But augmented reality, as the name suggests, is about augmenting or adding to reality reality. You might be looking at your cat or up your street, but there could be digital characters and content overlaid on them.

we neglect to think about just how much video games influence, shape, and impact our culture, history, and way of life.