Realistic Simulation of Cultural Heritage

Introduction

In realistic simulations of Cultural Heritage, virtual museums have a prominent role. Virtual museums are virtual environments that host virtual exhibitions created to tell the stories of the real museum artifacts to their visitors, just like in real museums, in a richer context and a wider range of possibilities. In the context of a real museum, this is achieved by combining exhibits and information in a carefully designed order and presentation style (Lepouras & Vassilakis, 2004). In the creation of virtual museums, contemporary IT technologies, such as multimedia, 3D computer graphics, spatial sound and virtual reality, can be used to enhance the presentation (the virtual presence), offering a more vivid and enjoyable experience. Although each of the different technological innovations involved pushes towards their own respective, there are two main goals that are universal in such systems: realism and speed. In addition, the continuous development of Web services and computer infrastructures complemented by the increasing availability of computer game development platforms (also known as game engines), contribute towards a continuous release of serious games in diverse fields including entertainment, cultural heritage, education, artificial intelligence, sociology, military and health systems (Breuer & Bente, 2010). In a sense, serious games can be considered as an efficient approach for blending domain specific activities, like in cultural heritage and education, with gaming. By utilizing contemporary visualization and simulation technologies, serious games enhance the user’s experience through photorealistic interactive environments (Van Eck, 2006). This form of stimulation is considered to be one of the primary factors for successful user engagement, in which playing, assumes the role of the driving force that promotes concentration in the activity process and user encouragement for further self-improvement. Stimulation is largely considered by the scientific community as a desired mechanism to achieve the desired results (Rogers, 1996).