Two questions:

[conuly]

Has anybody ever explained how people on Star Trek keep from bumping into the walls when on the Holodeck?

Also, somewhat more answerable, if you're a cop or something like that and have to take a legit job while undercover, do you get to keep the money?

Comments

[aberrantangels]

Substrate forcefield creates "treadmill" effect, permitting participant to remain stationary while the simulated environment "scrolls" by, within the limits of the simulation program.

Sternbach, Rick, and Michael Okuda. Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (caption of illustration on p.156, in 13.7 Holographic Environment Simulators). New York: Pocket, 1991.

[conuly]

But you can have three or four or more people in there, all going in different directions.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

My hypothesis is that it's force-field technology plus generated gravity (both of which we know they have) that cleverly alters one's spatial sensorium as one moves within the holo program. Of course one could over-ride this by steadily veering against the micro-shifts of balance that make one feel one's going straight when really one is turning - the same that makes people go in a circle out in the Wild, only purposefully induced.

Probably kids test the limits of that the first time they get in a holodeck, just to prove to themselves that there really IS a wall, even though it's hard to find. It may be easier with eyes closed, hmm? But once one has proved it, the game of Find-the-Wall probably loses its charm. The whole point of the Holodeck is suspension of disbelief; why mess it up?

I personally think it would make more sense for the Holodeck to be a sphere, with the whole inner surface as the floor (one would rise up into it through an elevator, rather than walking in through a door) which would give a lot more space and no bumping-into-walls problem. It would also give one the scope to have low-G and zero-G programs. Haha, Quidditch tournaments on the Holodeck!

[conuly]

That's a better explanation than the official one, which is apparently "multi-directional treadmill", something that works great for one person but absolutely falls apart the minute two people get into a game of hide and seek.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Haha, thanks; maybe they oughta hire me! ;-D

I don't see how a "multi-dimensional treadmill" works at all from a tech point of view. What part of the floor is moving; what's making it move? The Holodeck doesn't just do flat, hard surfaces; presumably grass and what-not feels like grass underfoot, since holodeck objects are solid to the touch, but what's got to be moving the floor underneath them? Something like a zillion ball-bearings on a frictionless surface? How's that going to work out? And as you say, there's no possible way it can work for two or more players.

If my hypothesis is correct, one way to play Find-the-Wall would be to program up, like, a vast prairie, or the surface of the Moon, and get in there with five or seven friends. Start by holding hands in a circle, then start backing away from the center, watching each other all the while to keep the expanding 'wheel' true. I suspect the holo-program would compensate for this by putting a ravine, crater or cliff-edge behind each person before they got to the wall, so the fun of the game would be in all stepping backward off the edge together. One can't fall off the floor, right?

We've seen that the safety protocols on the Holodeck can be turned off, so that one's combat program can actually kill one. Wouldn't it be just like the Klingons to devise a form of ritual suicide by fighting a holo of oneself to the death? Obviously, it wouldn't die, but would just keep coming no matter what; the Honor would be in how long one could make the battle last. Klingons are very cool, but so messed-up.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

As for the second question, I don't actually know, but I surmise that since cops do take second jobs sometimes, that they'd naturally keep the money - why not? If they did the work, they earned the pay.

I would also think there'd be a hell of a stink raised if they didn't keep the money, because after all, they trained to be police, not secretaries or car salesmen or whatever, and making them do that work without even getting paid for it would be Just Too Much.