As the newly appointed Professor of Game Informatics at the Cologne Game Lab, Dr Jonas Zimmer‘s research interests include non-Euclidean spaces in virtual reality (VR). He explains what this is all about in a short interview.
Study program:
Media Cultural Studies and Media Informatics at the University of Cologne
PhD:
„Transzendenz gestalten. Interdisziplinäre Paradigmen für das Design virtueller Räume“ (engl.: ‘Designing transcendence. Interdisciplinary paradigms for the design of virtual spaces’) at the University of Cologne.
Professional stations (among others):
- Developer for serious games at takomat GmbH
- Research assistant in the research department of the Cologne Game Lab at TH Köln
- Project manager at the Deutsches Museum in Nuremberg
- Project manager at the Institute for Differential and Biological Psychology at the University of Bonn
Non-Euclidean spaces can…
significantly increase the feeling of immersion in virtual reality applications because their special architectural arrangement solves a central problem of the medium: Virtual content no longer has to be strictly adapted to the boundaries of the surrounding physical space. This means that extensive virtual building complexes can be traversed naturally without having to resort to abstract movement methods such as teleportation or controller control. In a research project, players covered a distance of 3.5 kilometres on a 4 x 8 metre surface.
I would like to find out
how we can embed digital applications unobtrusively in our surroundings so that we can utilise the potential of virtuality without losing sight of reality.
As a child…
I always wanted to be an artist. It wasn’t until well into my Master’s degree that I realised what opportunities for creative development programming offered me. With the help of code, entire worlds can be created out of nothing!
Looking back, my study program was…
a successful combination of practice-orientated computer science and humanistic reflection on what we achieve with our digital creations.
When I have nothing to do…
I take a stroll through the co-working spaces at the institute and get inspired by our students’ current projects.
I would like to pass on to the students
that the university can be an oasis of creative self-development in our turbulent world. Here you have the space to try out new approaches, make mistakes, learn from them and find yourselves. Shape your future – and forget about standard study periods or ECTS.
On my desk…
my French press with fresh coffee is always tucked between chaotic piles of paper, video game merchandise and technical devices.
No campus…
without student hustle and bustle. I’m glad that the corridors are finally filling up with life again after the COVID-related closures.
The last good game I played,
was Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The game developer Bethesda managed the perfect balancing act between interactive gaming fun and a cinematic story that fits in wonderfully with the original trilogy. For me, the better fourth instalment in the series!
Interview from Ferbuar 2025, conducted by Christian Sander | https://www.th-koeln.de/hochschule/neuberufen-2024-prof-dr-jonas-zimmer_122552.php