The field began to grow in the mid 1980s when one-time computer hacker Jaron Lanier coined the term virtual reality and founded VPI Research Inc. in Redwood City, California, the first high-tech company dedicated to the virtual reality field.

• 当时，原先是计算机程序编制业余爱好者的贾龙 - 拉尼尔创造了“虚拟现实”这个新词，并在加州雷德伍德城创立了Vu研究公司，它是虚拟现实领域里的第一家高科技公司。