VRChat: How immersive is too immersive?
The hugely popular online multi-player game offers endless social VR (Virtual Reality) experiences by allowing its users to create the surroundings and play through a headset. According to the website, the game allows users the ability to: "Interact with people all over the world, experiment with identity by trying new avatars, create long lasting friendships, build worlds and invite people to them and, play and have fun" (https://www.vrchat.net/).
So, all of this begs the question; how immersive is too immersive?
After all, players on this game are completely immersed in the games surroundings. Due to the VR headset, no vision and almost no sound from the outside world makes its way to the player. The user can also go anywhere they wish within the 50,000 worlds and take the form of anyone that they can think of. It all seems a bit too real, doesn't it?
In game footage featuring Morty of "Rick and Morty" (Kim, 2018).
According to the week 7 lecture presentation, "many
aspects of our everyday lives can be re-presented in VR...Functional
and social aspects of life can be duplicated there (Kuttainen, 2019).
Technology is at a more advanced rate than ever in today's society. In order to be the best VR company, the most advanced and realistic experience must be created.
We talk over the phone. We FaceTime our loved ones. We send virtual gifts. So what is so different about talking over a microphone, doing things through a screen or giving others virtual objects on a program such as VRChat?
I will end this blog with a very interesting and relevant section of an article by John Danaher entitled, The reality of virtual reality: A philosophical analysis. The reading states;
"There is an apple in front of me. I can see it, but I can’t touch it. The reason is that the apple is actually a 3-D rendered model of an apple. It looks like an apple, but exists only within a virtual environment — one that is projected onto the computer screen in front of me. I can interact with the apple. I have an avatar that I can control on the screen. That avatar is a virtual projection of my self. It can pick up the apple, throw it around the virtual room, or eat it. But I can’t touch it and interact with it using my own physical hands. Is the apple real? Of course not: it’s virtual. But are virtual objects (or events or states of affairs) ever real?" (Danaher, 2017).
Technology is at a more advanced rate than ever in today's society. In order to be the best VR company, the most advanced and realistic experience must be created.
We talk over the phone. We FaceTime our loved ones. We send virtual gifts. So what is so different about talking over a microphone, doing things through a screen or giving others virtual objects on a program such as VRChat?
I will end this blog with a very interesting and relevant section of an article by John Danaher entitled, The reality of virtual reality: A philosophical analysis. The reading states;
"There is an apple in front of me. I can see it, but I can’t touch it. The reason is that the apple is actually a 3-D rendered model of an apple. It looks like an apple, but exists only within a virtual environment — one that is projected onto the computer screen in front of me. I can interact with the apple. I have an avatar that I can control on the screen. That avatar is a virtual projection of my self. It can pick up the apple, throw it around the virtual room, or eat it. But I can’t touch it and interact with it using my own physical hands. Is the apple real? Of course not: it’s virtual. But are virtual objects (or events or states of affairs) ever real?" (Danaher, 2017).
Sources used in this blog:
- Kim, SJ. (2018). Check Out How The VRChat Community Showed Signs Of Maturity When A User Had A Real Life Seizure. Retrieved from https://www.vrandfun.com/vrchat-community-showed-signs-maturity-user-real-life-seizure/
- Kuttainen, V. (2019). BA1002: Reality and virtuality. week 7 notes [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learn.jcu.edu.au/ultra/courses/_97532_1/outline
- Danaher, J. (2017). The reality of virtual reality: A philosophical analysis. Retrieved from https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET2/more/Danaher20170918
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