Virtual Realities

VR is a promise of another world. One that is right in front of us yet hidden away — a fantasy wonderland mediated by electronic devices.

The “Virtual Realities” series consists of three games for the parents to play with their children.

Scenario 1:

The child sits on the floor of the performance space wearing a virtual reality headset, called an HMD (Head mounted display). S/he holds two controllers, one in each hand. S/he rolls a virtual ball along the ground inside the virtual reality (VR) world. The parent receives a notification on their phone when the virtual ball arrives at their play location. With a screen tap, the parent rolls the ball back to the child.

Scenario 2:

The child stands in the center of the performance space wearing the HMD while holding the two controllers. The child swings the controllers to strike any of five virtual “xylophone” keys in the virtual world . Using their phone, the parent controls what instrument (sound) is played for each xylophone key when struck by the child.

Scenario 3:

The child stands in the performance space wearing the HMD and holding one controller while the parent holds the other controller. The parent moves around the space, triggering a target seen by the child in the virtual world. The child’s goal is to locate the target and strike it with their virtual wand. Each time the target is hit it disappears and the parent again chooses where and when to create the target. As the child can only see the virtual world (the HMD blocks all light from the performance space), the parent and child play a form of tag wherein each has limited information about the game.

‘Virtual Realities’ is made possible in part by generous support provided by LexArts’ Fund for the Arts which is funded in part by the LFUCG