Narrative Disruption
Virtual Reality is the Playground of Tomorrow’s Storytellers
BY CALEB HALE
“Virtual reality is as close as humans have gotten to dreaming while they are awake.” — Pinckney Benedict, professor of creative writing.
Once upon a time, the stories in books opened the mind’s eye to the characters, places, and experiences contained therein. Imagination was immersion. Today, storytelling has evolved along with the tools used to craft narratives.
Emma Chapman, a senior in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s creative writing program, is developing a personal tale. For years she’s suffered bouts of sleep paralysis, a condition that can temporarily render a person unable to move or speak while falling into or out of REM sleep. Episodes can induce hallucinations and is often considered a likely culprit behind claims of alien abduction or paranormal experiences.
In short, Chapman said it’s “pretty terrifying.”
Not so long ago, Chapman’s only recourse to relay such a story would be putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboards) and finding just the right way to inject enough visual flourish in her words to trigger the reader’s emotions. But Chapman isn’t bringing this story to life on paper; she’s doing so in virtual reality, with the aid of a VR headset and software that gives everyday people the power to build an immersive world.
“It’s often said the dream is the perfect form of the short story,” said Pinckney Benedict, creative writing professor and the architect behind SIU’s Virtual Reality Classroom Initiative, a program designed to put the immersive power of VR into the hands of individuals able to build compelling narrative experiences. “Virtual reality is as close as humans have gotten to dreaming while they’re awake.”
It’s total immersion, and the technology behind building experiences for VR have gotten so user-friendly, almost anyone with a vision can create something.
Benedict began the initiative in 2019 with a couple of Oculus Quest VR headsets. Oculus, which is owned by Facebook, developed the Quest as the first virtual reality device that doesn’t need to be tethered to a computer or gaming console to operate. It’s a free-roaming experience, built on mobile technology with an ease of use and appeal akin to smartphones.
Benedict knew he was onto something when his office hours began filling with students curious to try the headset. When he began a creative writing course utilizing VR to let storytellers build worlds and experiences, the class filled up quickly.
While the process of crafting a story has traditionally been something contained to real space, the ideas and concepts behind those narratives have always been more cerebral. Virtual reality, it turns out, complements the art better than one would expect.
“Not being technologically inclined, I initially thought the technology and process of story building were very disparate,” Chapman said. “Actually, it gives me a creative tool to really submerge my audience into the world I’m trying to create.”
The Experience
The goggles of the Oculus Quest drape over your eyes. The room you were in melts away, replaced by a mildly surreal space, one that stretches farther than you expect.
You’re introduced to your “new reality.” Everything seems to fall where it should. The hands in front of you — while not your own — are a more than adequate digital facsimile for interacting with a number of virtual toys suddenly placed in front of you. It’s not half as disorienting as you think it should be.
Gradually, your awareness of real space fades. What you see before you is real enough to evoke some genuine reaction. Within a few more minutes, you’ve all but forgotten where you really are and in complete sync with virtual reality. You’re moving, looking and interacting with everything around you as if you were working in your own kitchen.
Immersion is scarily easy. In fact, it’s more jarring once you pull the headset off.
The Future is Virtual
It’s not hard to see how enticing virtual worlds will become, once you experience VR for an extended period of time, Benedict said. VR can heighten even the more mundane interactions with technology.
“You know, I could watch Netflix on my small television in my living room, or I could pop on the headset and watch it on a virtual big screen in my virtual chateau in the Alps,” he said.
VR is the future of immersion, he said, and it will become a major medium by which the public will consume and experience content. The technology is already available for some of the most creative minds to begin crafting those experiences.
SIU is leading the exploration of this new form of storytelling. The prospects, Benedict said, are enticing.
“This is a whole new level of immersion in storytelling. It puts people in the experience, and the tech is growing rapidly, so this sense of immersion is only going to get much stronger,” he said.
Benedict will join the SIU Alumni Association at noon (CST) Thursday, April 2 for a live chat about SIU’s virtual reality classroom initiative. Audience members will be able to ask questions and see why VR is opening up new opportunities. Stay tuned to our Facebook event for details:
This article is excerpted from the Spring 2020 SIU Alumni Magazine and is offered as a courtesy to all alumni during our current national health emergency. Stay safe, #Salukis.
