游戏人生
未来的制作 (FUTURE CRAFTING)
There’s lurking anxiety in people’s hearts. “What if this never ends?” Countless articles cropped up over the past few months theorizing what a future of living in the shadow of COVID-19 might look like. What permanent changes to our lifestyles should we prepare for? If we find a cure, what does the aftermath look like? Do we scramble back to our daily lives, balance mourning the dead with a 9–5?
Ť 这里的潜伏在人们心中的焦虑。 “如果这永无止境呢？” 在过去的几个月里，出现了无数的文章，这些文章推论了在COVID-19阴影下生活的未来可能会是什么样子。 我们应该为生活方式做哪些永久性改变？ 如果找到治愈方法，后果将如何？ 我们是否要回到日常生活中，以9–5平衡死者的哀悼？
One outcome worth considering is the shift to virtual living. I’m not talking about more reliable Zoom meetings or better virtual doctor appointments.
值得考虑的一项成果是向虚拟生活的转变。 我并不是在谈论更可靠的Zoom会议或更好的虚拟医生约会。
I’m talking about living in a video game: a world where we interact like in real life, but without physically being there.
我说的是生活在电子游戏中：一个我们像现实生活中一样互动但没有物理存在的世界。
Imagine you wake up, go through your morning routine, and then sit down at your desk. Instead of opening your laptop and checking your email, you pull a comfortable, lightweight Virtual Reality (VR) headset over your head.
想象一下，您醒了，经过了早上的例行活动，然后坐在办公桌前。 您无需打开笔记本电脑并查看电子邮件，而是将舒适，轻巧的虚拟现实(VR)耳机戴在头上。
As you press back into your chair, you log in and see a digital version of yourself, a persona. You “click” on your character and spawn in your house in the World. A menu appears with your email and schedule. After 15 minutes of wading through email, you get a notification from Jim asking to meet you for coffee outside the office.
当您回到椅子上时，您登录并看到自己的数字版本，一个角色。 您“点击”角色并在世界之屋中生成。 随即出现一个菜单，其中包含您的电子邮件和时间表。 通过电子邮件涉水15分钟后，您会收到Jim的通知，要求您在办公室外与您见面喝咖啡。
You teleport in the game to a virtual office. Jim’s character is waiting on a virtual bench. You walk over to the bench and discuss family life with Jim. In real life, you sip your coffee. After 15 minutes, you both walk into the office and head into a conference room. Your coworkers are all in there. Recording technology has improved such that you can carry on a casual conversation with Jim, who sits next to you, without disturbing/talking over your other coworkers who are chatting before the morning standup.
您在游戏中将其传送到虚拟办公室。 吉姆的角色正在虚拟长凳上等待。 您走到长凳上，与吉姆讨论家庭生活。 在现实生活中，您会喝咖啡。 15分钟后，你们俩走进办公室，走进会议室。 您的同事都在那里。 录音技术得到了改进，您可以与坐在您旁边的Jim进行休闲对话，而不会打扰/与您早上起床前聊天的其他同事交谈。
As 10:00 rolls around and a notification tells you to take a break. You remove the VR headset and go for a walk in the real outside.
当10:00滚来滚去时，会有一条通知告诉您休息一下。 您卸下VR头戴式耳机，然后在真实的室外散步。
I know. It sounds like the start of a Black Mirror episode.
我知道。 听起来像是《黑镜》插曲的开始。
On paper, the whole skit seems outlandish, even borderline fantasy. It’s been a dream of gamers forever to log into a fantasy world like this, though I doubt anyone’s top choice was a 9–5 simulator.
在纸上，整个小品似乎很古怪，甚至是边缘幻想。 永远进入这样的幻想世界一直是游戏玩家的梦想，尽管我怀疑任何人的首选都是9–5模拟器。
VR, security, sound, and so many other tech fields would need to make leaps and bound to achieve something like this. But I see this as the inevitable tip of an inevitable iceberg.
VR，安全性，声音以及许多其他技术领域需要取得飞跃，并且一定要实现这样的目标。 但是我认为这是不可避免的冰山的必然提示。
As developed countries get more and more comfortable doing business in non-physical domains, how long until other areas of life shift to virtual options?
随着发达国家在非物质领域开展业务变得越来越舒适，那么生活的其他领域转向虚拟选择又需要多长时间？
Imagine other VR scenarios: seeing a therapist, hanging out with your family, going to a movie. A year ago if you floated something like this, most people would have never considered doing any of these things virtually. Even if they wanted to, the prospect was unrealistic. Neither the technology nor the demand was there. However, with quarantine exposing the potential of virtual spaces, they’re starting to look like viable options.
想象一下其他VR场景：看治疗师，和家人一起出去玩，看电影。 一年前，如果您浮动这样的东西，大多数人将永远不会考虑虚拟地做这些事情。 即使他们愿意，前景也不现实。 技术和需求都没有。 但是，随着隔离区暴露出虚拟空间的潜力，它们开始看起来像是可行的选择。
As we prepare for COVID winter and look at what the future might hold, I argue it’s not as unrealistic as it sounds.
当我们为冬季COVID做准备，并展望未来可能会发生什么时，我认为这并不是听起来那么不切实际。
A year ago I would have laughed in your face if you told me we might spend more time in virtual environments than we do in real ones. Even now, as I spend 8 hours minimum flipping between blocks of code and Zoom/Skype/Webex/Teams calls, it still seems farfetched.
一年前，如果您告诉我，我们在虚拟环境中花费的时间可能会比在真实环境中花费的时间多，那么我会在您面前大笑。 即使到现在，由于我在代码块和Zoom / Skype / Webex / Teams调用之间至少花费了8个小时的时间来回切换，似乎还是有些牵强。
However, the precedent is there.
但是，有先例。
社会先例 (The Social Precedent)
Take a look at remote work. While not every job can be done remotely, it’s become an appealing option for those that can. As soon as companies realized that meetings and office communication could be done out of the office, companies like Zoom capitalized on that experience. You can already use filters, backgrounds, and emojis to add personality to conference calls. There are features for interacting, such as hand raising, polling, and more.
看一下远程工作。 尽管并非每项工作都可以远程完成，但对于那些可以做到的人来说，它已成为一种有吸引力的选择。 一旦公司意识到可以在办公室外进行会议和办公室交流，像Zoom这样的公司便利用了这种经验。 您已经可以使用过滤器，背景和表情符号为电话会议添加个性。 有用于交互的功能，例如举手，轮询等。
Education is in a similar boat, though there are concerns to be wary of. (Simon Rodberg outlines some potential pitfalls in his article, School as We Knew It Is Over. What Comes Next?) We’ve seen summer camps offer online courses, and supplementary education sites like Khan Academy are increasingly active. Earlier in the year, many universities opted for virtual commencements. People joked that before long they’d host commencement in Roblox or Minecraft.
尽管人们对此有所警惕，但教育也处于类似的状态。 (Simon Rodberg在他的文章《 我们知道的学校》中概述了一些潜在的陷阱。接下来会发生什么？ ) 我们已经看到，夏令营提供在线课程，可汗学院等补充教育网站也越来越活跃。 在今年早些时候，许多大学选择了虚拟课程。 人们开玩笑说，不久之后，他们将在Roblox或Minecraft中进行启动。
At an entertainment level, virtual communities are flourishing. Quarantine has been a dream for gaming, as gamers get to spend hours inside playing games without judgment. As so many people have had to buff up their home office, lots of gamers took the opportunity to upgrade their setups. Outside of gaming, people are devouring content on sites like Twitch, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and more. Even when not at the computer, mobile devices are a medium into your digital persona on the go.
在娱乐方面，虚拟社区正在蓬勃发展。 隔离一直是游戏的梦想，因为游戏者可以花很多时间在玩游戏中，而不会做出判断。 由于许多人不得不打理他们的家庭办公室，因此许多游戏玩家借此机会升级了他们的设置。 在游戏之外，人们正在吞噬Twitch，YouTube，Netflix，Hulu等网站上的内容。 即使不在计算机旁，移动设备也可以随时随地成为您数字角色的媒介。
Quarantine is pushing people to think outside of the box. Though many countries are on the verge of recovery, the world isn’t going to snap back to normal once we beat COVID. As we look, ideally with optimism, at social change in the fallout of COVID, technology and its role must remain in the spotlight.
隔离要求人们跳出框框思考。 尽管许多国家都处于复苏的边缘，但是一旦我们击败了COVID，世界将不会恢复正常。 正如我们理想地乐观地看到的那样，在COVID产生的后果中的社会变革中，技术及其作用必须始终受到关注。
技术先例 (The Technology Precedent)
From faster computers to ray/path tracing to physics breakthroughs in games like Half-Life: Alyx, one thing is clear: gaming technology is evolving. This comes as no surprise since the gaming industry has exploded into a $100+ billion-dollar industry that continues to grow. With that kind of interest, we can expect great things in the coming years.
从更快的计算机到光线/路径追踪，再到《 半条命：Alyx》等游戏中的物理突破，很明显的一件事是：游戏技术正在不断发展。 这一点不足为奇，因为游戏行业已经发展成为一个价值超过100亿美元的行业，并且这个行业还在继续增长。 有了这种兴趣，我们就可以在未来几年中期待美好的事情。
Earlier in 2020, Sony announced the specs for the PS5. While it’s a well-rounded, beast of a machine for the price point (leaks suggest around $500), the real eye-catcher isn’t what you’d expect: it’s the hard drive.
2020年初，索尼宣布了PS5的规格 。 虽然这是一台价格适中的机器，但它是一门全面的野兽(泄漏的建议零售价为500美元左右)，但真正吸引眼球的并不是您所期望的：它是硬盘。
Specifically, it’s what is called “I/O throughput”, which is the speed at which the hard drive can send and receive data. The PS5 ships with 5.5 Gb/s (raw), putting it leagues ahead of its competition. Xbox Series X ships stock with 2.4Gb/s (raw). The PS4 and Xbox One were in the realm of ~100 Mb/s.
具体来说，这就是所谓的“ I / O吞吐量”，即硬盘驱动器可以发送和接收数据的速度。 PS5出厂时的速率为5.5 Gb / s(原始)，在竞争中处于领先地位。 Xbox Series X出厂时的库存为2.4Gb / s(原始)。 PS4和Xbox One的速度约为100 Mb / s。
Why is this important? Because it revolutionizes the development process for games and other graphically intensive software.
为什么这很重要？ 因为它彻底改变了游戏和其他图形密集型软件的开发过程。
Assets are what make up a game. They include textures, solid objects, characters, the environment, and more. These assets have to be stored somewhere just like any file. Many of our graphical improvements throughout the years have relied on making better assets, but only up to a certain point. A 3D model of a rock, for instance, is made out of polygons (typically triangles).
资产是构成游戏的要素。 它们包括纹理，固体对象，角色，环境等。 这些资产必须像存储任何文件一样存储在某个地方。 多年来，我们在图形上的许多改进都依赖于更好的资产，但仅限于一定程度上。 例如，岩石的3D模型是由多边形(通常是三角形)组成的。
You could imagine making a simple “rock” by putting three 2D triangles together, i.e. a pyramid. Because there are only three triangles, it only takes up a small amount of file storage.
您可以想象通过将三个2D三角形(即金字塔)放在一起来制作一个简单的“岩石”。 由于只有三个三角形，因此只占用少量文件存储空间。
That’s not a very lifelike rock, though. To make it more lifelike, we have to add more triangles (polygons). The number of polygons in a model is what is known as “poly count”. The higher the poly count, the bigger the file.
但是，那不是一块栩栩如生的石头。 为了使其更逼真，我们必须添加更多的三角形(多边形)。 模型中的多边形数就是所谓的“多边形数”。 多边形数越高，文件越大。
Today much of the high-end rendering and lifelike games that we see have assets with high poly counts, like millions of polygons. These assets are known as “high-poly”, as opposed to a “low-poly” assets like our 3 triangle rock. The more of these high-poly assets a game has, the more data the game has to load. The more data you have to load, the longer you’re waiting for your game to load.
今天，我们看到的许多高端渲染和栩栩如生的游戏都拥有多多边形数量很高的资产，例如数百万个多边形。 这些资产被称为“高聚”资产，与“低聚”资产(如我们的3三角岩)相反。 一个游戏拥有的这些高多边形资产越多，该游戏必须加载的数据就越多。 您必须加载的数据越多，等待游戏加载的时间就越长。
While there are many techniques to improve graphics without increasing poly-count, this has been a major roadblock for developers for as long as we’ve been making games. You can build the most detailed rock you want. If that rock takes up half a gigabyte in memory, you’re going to be waiting for that to load for a long time. A good developer had to balance load and response times with how pretty their game is and how many assets they load into a scene.
尽管有很多技术可以在不增加多边形数的情况下改善图形，但是只要我们一直在开发游戏，这一直是开发人员的主要障碍。 您可以构建所需的最详细的岩石。 如果那块石头占用了一半的内存，那么您将等待很长的时间来加载它。 一个好的开发人员必须在负载和响应时间与游戏的美观程度以及场景中加载多少资产之间取得平衡。
That’s where I/O throughput comes in. In the past, throughput has been too low to manage a ton of high-poly assets. Developers had a breadth of tricks to get around this, but those tricks aren’t perfect. Even with the tricks, they add time and complexity to the development process, hence games and software take longer to build.
这就是I / O吞吐量的来源。过去，吞吐量太低，无法管理大量的高多边形资产。 开发人员有很多技巧可以解决此问题，但是这些技巧并不完美。 即使有了这些技巧，它们也增加了开发过程的时间和复杂性，因此游戏和软件的构建时间更长。
Breakthroughs in how we handle those assets as well as the increased throughput speeds change all of this. Instead of having to use all of these tricks, we can just load our assets directly from the hard drive in real-time.
我们在处理这些资产方面的突破以及不断提高的吞吐速度改变了这一切。 不必使用所有这些技巧，我们可以直接从硬盘直接实时加载资产。
Cool, but why even bring all this up?
太酷了，但是为什么还要提起这一切呢？
Between this and the recently teased Unreal Engine 5, a cutting-edge game engine (what one uses to build games), we may be able to put together games and graphically intensive software far quicker than we do now.
在此和最近发布的虚幻引擎5(一种最先进的游戏引擎(用于构建游戏))之间，我们也许能够比现在更快地将游戏和图形密集型软件组合在一起。
That means if your office wants to throw together a life-like virtual version of their office, it could be a hell of a lot more accessible than today. Of course, the possibilities are endless with technology like this.
这意味着，如果您的办公室希望将其逼真的虚拟版本放在一起，那将是一个比今天更容易访问的地狱。 当然，这种技术的可能性是无限的。
Imagine, instead of Google Cars driving around and scanning roadways for Maps data, they’re scanning the Earth for model data. There are already companies that do similar things for CGI in movies. If we have the technology to load that data into a virtual environment in real or close to real-time, suddenly it doesn’t seem so farfetched to have a virtual Earth that one might load into.
想象一下，他们不是在谷歌汽车周围行驶并在道路上扫描地图数据，而是在地球上扫描模型数据。 已经有公司为电影中的CGI做类似的事情。 如果我们拥有将数据实时或接近实时地加载到虚拟环境中的技术，突然之间似乎没有一个人可以加载到其中的虚拟地球那么牵强。
We have a ways to go before all of the pieces are in place, but the precedent is there.
在所有内容都准备就绪之前，我们还有一段路要走，但是有先例。
先例是一回事，但是会发生吗？ (Precedent is one thing, but will it happen?)
It’s not a matter of if, but when.
这不是如果 ，但是当一个问题。
We’re already plugged in, and technology is on a fast track. Take a look at a couple revealing statistics from a collection by Kommando Tech in February 2020:
我们已经接通电源，技术发展很快。 让我们看一下2020年2月由Kommando Tech收集的一组揭示统计数据的夫妇：
- “There are over 5 billion mobile users in the world, and more than 3 billion of those have smartphones.” “全球有超过50亿的移动用户，其中超过30亿拥有智能手机。”
- “Globally, how much time does the average person spend on their phone in a day? The most recent data indicates that people spend an average of 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phones.” “在全球范围内，普通人一天在手机上花费多少时间？ 最新数据表明，人们平均在手机上花费3个小时15分钟。”
15 years ago people were skeptical of smartphones. I can almost hear my mom saying, “Why would anyone ever want to spend time on their phone when they have a computer?”
15年前，人们对智能手机持怀疑态度。 我几乎可以听到我妈妈说： “为什么有人要花时间在手机上呢？”
Now our digital lives are already a part of our physical ones. With this in mind, it’s not hard to conceive of a world where these virtual worlds meld into a uniform experience: your virtual-life and your real-life start to become one.
现在，我们的数字生活已经成为我们身体生活的一部分。 考虑到这一点，不难想象一个虚拟世界融合成统一体验的世界：您的虚拟生活和现实生活开始合而为一。
It might not look like a real-life World of Warcraft, SkyNet, Animal Crossing, or a bunch of agents in tailored suits trying to suppress free will, but it’s only a matter of time before we see something new emerge.
它看起来可能不像现实生活中的《魔兽世界》 ，《天网》，《 动物穿越》 ，或一群穿着特制西装的特工试图压制自由意志，但这只是时间问题，我们才能看到新的事物出现。
The question we should be asking is: what does that look like?
我们应该问的问题是：那是什么样的？
翻译自: https://medium.com/super-jump/the-game-of-life-48f1188b69aa
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