What Makes VR More Than a Passing Trend?
// The Goatkeeper, Issue 4
At any given time I try to keep at least two books within reach: one fiction, one non. Right now they happen to be Infinite Jest and The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Can you guess which one I pick up to tuck me in at night?
When we look for connection, we usually find it in a good story. Whether we’re getting to know someone, deciding what products to buy or getting settled in a new city, we seek out a narrative in order to mirror our own experience. These stories offer us a new reality and a mental escape. It’s why we unwind in front of the television set and why we raise our kids on fairytales.
In other words, storytelling gives us duality of presence.
A year ago at TEDWomen 2015, Nonny de la Peña shared her idea that virtual reality is the future of news. (I still get goosebumps every time I watch the video clip. Give it a bookmark, at the very least.) Her work with Immersive Journalism is all about inspiring empathy in her audience — telling powerful stories while using a platform that invites them to wholly buy in. Beyond storytelling, Nonny’s mission is to use these pieces to “elicit a connection between the audience and the news story.”
Although journalism represents a singular use case, this unique ability of VR to conjure universal empathy gives this technology staying power. I honestly didn’t realize that there were content creators out there who still considered VR a potential fad until Wednesday’s #AdweekChat:
Anyone that points to Google Glass as a proof point that VR will come and go is missing two key points.
- The difference between AR (Google Glass, Blippar, etc.) and VR (Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, etc.)
2. The intended use of the necessary hardware. Google Glass tried too hard to blend in that it could never quite assimilate. VR headsets, so far, know their niche place in our physical world.
And, while VR goes far beyond gaming, I love the way Adi Robertson at The Verge puts it: “Just as the interactivity of video games has offered us new ways to identify with and relate to characters, the way that virtual reality can make us conflate our physical and digital bodies offers opportunities we’re just starting to explore.”
In the age of apathy, VR’s implications are boundless.
