Future Proof This: Virtual Reality Escapism and Reality Perception

(warning: really long cartoon, and even longer article below)

Try to recall a recent time when you were so extremely immersed on a piece of media, whether it be spending a weekend on the most binge-worthy television series on Netflix, a days-long marathon of your favorite sci-fi or fantasy movie franchise, or a 60+ hour gameplay on an open world game on your Playstation.

Now imagine that moment just after you turn off your television set and put down that remote/gamepad. Didn’t you feel a little detached from reality? Like little remnants of that fantastical world you just got abruptly pulled out from find their ways into your real-world consciousness.

No, NOT crazy hallucinations as the comic above suggests, but just “feelings”. Bittersweet feelings that come from reminiscing about the wonders of your escape, combined with a bleak realization that reality can never match the fantastical fictional world you just experienced.

Now, that’s just stuff you feel coming from a 2D screen. Think about how much more immersive virtual reality experiences can screw up your brain.

Developments in virtual reality, particularly in the realm of immersive entertainment, are showing no signs of slowing down. If we’re not careful we may be on the way to that dystopia that’s portrayed in “Ready Player One”.

Exploring the Consequences Once the Headsets Are Off

Understandably, it seems most of us mindless, media-consuming zombies (both the tech developers and tech users) are most titillated at the prospect of using virtual reality as a means for escape.

Unfortunately, we’re all too focused on the possibilities that VR can offer when the VR goggles are on, and forget to consider what we could take away from our immersive experiences when the headsets come off.

Barring the multitude of other more practical applications of VR in realms like engineering, biotechnology & medicine, productivity and even journalism, here are some thought starters specifically in the realm of entertainment that could help make the future of VR more “meaningful”:

Don’t Maximize Consumption Volume. Maximize Consumption Value — Make our future VR platforms smarter in recommending experiences based on our individual perceptions of “value”. Think of something more advanced than Netflix’s recommendation algorithms (that focus primarily on content preferences) that adds in dimensions that help in real-life applications:

• Skillsets Improvement (ex. will this experience help me become a better problem solver? — ex. a puzzle-based game — like a VR version of Tetris)
• Social Interactions / enhancing your human experience (ex. will this experience help me become more empathic towards others? — ex. an adventure game that involves complex interactions with different kinds of characters)
• Knowledge Enhancement (ex. will this experience help me improve my knowledge of the world? — ex. an immersive VR documentary about an exotic locale and its inhabitants)
• Mental & Emotional Well-Being (ex. will this experience help me relax and destress? — ex. a VR yoga experience that transports you into different, exotic locations while doing your mediation)

Play With Real People…in Real Spaces — Create other experiences that gather real-life people in physical spaces but playing in VR worlds. If we had LAN parties in the 90s and 00s, we could have our living rooms or public VR venues become new spaces for good ‘old gaming fun with real people, and foster proper social interactions, while still immersing ourselves in fantastical experiences.

• side note: We do see a massive amount of interaction nowadays through network gaming, a huge component of the console and PC gaming industries’ revenue streams. But last I participated in these places, the protection of anonymity and lack of physical proximity between each other allows players to show a rather aggressive and nastier side of themselves, not unlike what we already see in social media — which brings me to my next point…

Rules of VR Social Engagement — The last thing we want in a networked VR world is for it become a toxic place filled with anonymous trolls (like what we see in Facebook and Twitter today) unfettered in showing their antagonistic tendencies. Here are a couple of suggestions to help mitigate these behaviors:

• Mandatory Authentic VR Profiles — Mandating users to use their real names and likeness in their VR profiles could help players regulate bad behaviors, the same way most people generally behave in the physical world.
• Bad Consequences for Bad Behavior — Set rules and punishments for disruptive anti-social behavior. For example, unnecessary use of profanity towards fellow users can lead to 2-week ban from the platform.
• Be careful NOT to replace “Reality” — Because what we perceive as “reality” is simply what our brain decodes from what our senses perceive, there could be merit in limiting the sensations a user can feel in a VR experience to keep him grounded to actual reality. Perhaps limiting VR experiences to cater to our senses of sight, hearing, and a more narrow band of touch, is enough to create an engaging experience, but not so realistic enough that it detaches us from the real world. So forget our senses of smell and taste — I actually don’t even know how the tech’s going to work for those.

Nothing Beats Real Life

Probably the best thing we can all do to mitigate a dystopian future of VR addiction is to just to regularly check back in to real life. Mandatory platform shutdowns may be a tall order for a society that values the “freedom of choice”, but it may not be such a bad idea of VR addiction actually becomes an epidemic.

As Ernest Cline so thoughtfully wrote in his famous novel turned so-so movie:

“As terrifying and painful as reality can be; it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness.”

True that. Can VR give you the joy of eating a warm and crunchy thin crust pizza, or of feeling and smelling the of a gust of wind across a meadow of spring flowers, or of a tight, comforting hug from a chubby (a really chubby) friend?

No. Not until we’re in “The Matrix” levels of technology / machine-human enslavement.

Watch out for an upcoming post around Augmented Reality, which I feel is a piece of tech that will be much more world-changing than VR.