Cinematic Virtual Reality as a Veiled Opportunity to Enter the Metaverse: The Question of Field of View

This chapter discusses the opportunities for using cinematic virtual reality (CVR) to enhance our understanding of the imagined metaverse—the recently emerged new digital age phenomenon. The concept of the metaverse is approached from a technological innovation perspective. The chapter investigates the possibilities of using the phenomenon of CVR, which facilitates the desired immersion while requiring the least prior knowledge and skills from the user, and thus might ease the adoption of the technological innovation, i.e., the imagined metaverse. The difference between virtual reality (VR) and CVR lies in the generation of the VR world: traditional VR is typically generated through 3D graphics processing and audio triggers in real-time, whereas CVR exclusively uses pre-rendered pictures and sound elements. Thus, the main difference between the two lies in the textual content and the intended way of consuming it, without dissimilarity in technology. While the prevailing perspective among practitioners and theorists is that CVR typically involves a 360° field of view (FOV), this chapter explores an alternative perspective on the FOV in CVR.