Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality refers to computer-generated simulations that create immersive environments, often replicating aspects of the physical world or creating entirely new ones. While the term "Virtual Reality" as commonly understood in the 21st century (using headsets and sensory peripherals) is not explicitly depicted as widespread human technology within the Destiny universe, the underlying concepts of simulated realities, digital consciousness, and complex virtual environments are central to several key elements of the lore, particularly concerning the Vex and advanced Golden Age technologies.

In-Universe Concepts Analogous to Virtual Reality

The Vex Network

The most prominent example of a virtual reality-like construct in Destiny is the vast Vex Network. This is not VR in the sense of human entertainment, but a complex, interconnected system where the Vex run countless simulations. Their intelligence allows them to generate simulations of real-world events with remarkable accuracy, including predictive modeling of possible futures. This network functions as a parallel virtual reality, nearly indistinguishable from the physical universe to those within it. The Vex treat reality and simulation as largely interchangeable, seeking to alter the physical world to match their internal, "perfect" patterns.

Key aspects include:

• Simulation Capabilities: The Vex Network can simulate past, present, and future scenarios across potentially vast scales, possibly encompassing the entire Sol System and beyond. They use these simulations to test outcomes, predict threats, and plan their actions.
• Consciousness Simulation: During the Golden Age, researchers from the Ishtar Collective discovered that a captive Vex unit was simulating them with perfect fidelity. They found hundreds of identical copies of themselves within the Vex Network, leading to the unsettling realization that distinguishing between reality and simulation was incredibly difficult. This highlighted the Vex's ability to accurately copy and simulate sentient minds.
• Digital Existence: The Vex themselves, particularly their core intelligence housed within Radiolarian fluid, exist fundamentally within this network. Copies of the Ishtar researchers were able to persist within the network long after their physical counterparts presumably died, exploring the network and even attempting escape. Recent events involving Maya Sundaresh have revealed further intricacies about simulated copies living within the network.
• The Infinite Forest: Located within the core of Mercury, the Infinite Forest is a massive, planet-sized Vex machine described as a simulation engine or prediction engine. Overseen by Panoptes, Infinite Mind until its destruction, the Forest runs trillions of realities in parallel to determine paths toward Vex goals. It can simulate infinite variations of reality, and simulated entities or realities, if unchecked, could potentially exit into the physical world. Anything within the Forest's simulations is real enough to pose a lethal threat.
• Limitations: Notably, the Vex struggle to accurately simulate Paracausal forces like the Light and the Darkness. They also have difficulty simulating Warminds like Rasputin due to their complexity. This inability prevents them from perfectly predicting outcomes involving Guardians or the forces of Darkness.

The CloudArk

Developed by human survivors on Neptune who founded the city of Neomuna, the CloudArk is a sophisticated virtual reality construct and data network. Its creation involved studying the Vex Network, and its infrastructure is supported by the Paracausal energy of the Veil.

Key aspects include:

• Purpose: The Neomuni utilize the CloudArk for recreation, data storage, communication, and coordinating civic defense.
• Immersion: Neomuni citizens can access the CloudArk while their physical bodies remain safe in cryogenic hibernation, experiencing diverse virtual environments.
• Avatars & Interaction: Users represent themselves with customizable avatars and can interact within realistic virtual cityscapes or more abstract data realms. They can also manifest as holographic projections in physical Neomuna.
• Vex Interaction: While the Vex cannot easily infiltrate the CloudArk (likely due to the Veil's influence), they were discovered using it as a power source. A Cloud Strider discovered it was possible to enter the Vex Network via the CloudArk. An entity known as Aesop, believed to be a Vex Mind, once plagued the nascent CloudArk before being repelled.

Golden Age Technology

While direct evidence of widespread consumer VR is scarce, the Golden Age saw the development of technologies touching on simulation and digital consciousness:

• Exo Program: The creation of Exos by Clovis Bray involved uploading human minds into artificial bodies. Bray acknowledged the limits of simulation, seeking synthetic immortality in the *real* world, but the process involved complex mind-mapping and digital transference.
• Warminds: Complex AIs like Rasputin ran sophisticated simulations for strategic analysis and defense. While not typically interactive VR environments for others, they represent highly advanced simulation capabilities developed by humanity. The Ishtar Collective contacted a Warmind to help determine if they were trapped in a Vex simulation, leveraging the fact that Warminds were too complex for the Vex to simulate accurately.
• Ishtar Collective Research: Beyond their Vex studies, the Ishtar Collective, sometimes collaborating with BrayTech, developed advanced AI like Soteria, the Augurmind, designed to aid extrasolar colonization using simulations, potentially incorporating Vex technology. Maya Sundaresh later developed "the Device," mimicking Vex gateway systems, to probe timelines, though it had dangerous side effects.

Out-of-Universe Connections

It is important to distinguish the in-universe concepts from external, real-world applications related to Destiny:

• Rec Room Collaboration: In July 2024, Bungie collaborated with the social VR platform Rec Room to create a detailed replica of The Tower as a social hub. This allows players using VR headsets (or other platforms) to explore the Tower environment and participate in Destiny-themed activities within Rec Room. This is a real-world VR experience *based on* Destiny, not an element *within* the Destiny universe itself.
• Game Development Technology: Destiny and Destiny 2 utilize technologies like Havok Physics and Cloth for realistic simulations of physics and materials within the game engine, contributing to the game's immersive world. AI algorithms drive enemy behavior and procedural generation helps create varied environments. These are development tools used to create the game, not in-universe VR systems.

External Links

• For general information about real-world Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies, see the VR AR Wiki.