empathy Archives - VR Playhouse Immersive Content for VR and AR

Apr 13

0

What It’s Like to Work in Virtual Reality

By jordanh | Storytelling, Technology | No Comments

Let’s be real. Virtual reality is having a moment. Headsets are shipping, people are talking and VR is popping up all over pop culture in weird, interesting ways. It feels sweepingly omnipresent all of a sudden, like there was this plan in place to make VR a part of all of our lives and now that plan is in motion. And so people ask me what it’s like to work in the virtual reality industry. This is a hard question to answer in an interesting way. It’s difficult? It’s exciting? It’s crazysexycool? Yes. But also: Working in virtual reality is like being a first year resident on a primetime medical drama Not that I ever watched “Grey’s Anatomy” because for sure I never did but somehow I know that the pilot episode covered the first 48 hours in the residency of Meredith Grey and friends, just like the pilot episode…

The Value of Virtual Tragedy

By jordanh | Storytelling | No Comments

The concept of presence, of being virtually and magically transported to a place, real or imagined, and having the feeling of truly being there, has always been and will continue to be, one of the chief selling points of virtual reality. But that concept of presence, and the value that VR gives to it, becomes much more complex when we’re talking about a place and an experience that no one would want to be present for. Such is the case when it comes to “[08:46]”, a new VR piece that recreates the events of September 11, 2001 from the point of view of an office worker in the World Trade Center’s North Tower. I can only guess as to the motives behind the creation of “[08:46]”. Whatever they may be, it is ultimately the prerogative of its makers. It’s a free country and, as with so many controversial works of art, if…

Adventures in VR Storytelling, Part II

By jordanh | Storytelling | No Comments

Part II: There Is No Third Person We’ve already discussed the distinct, dreamlike presence one feels inside a VR narrative; that feeling of being intimately present up until a point and then definitively detached. It’s a very special kind of presence and it can potentially lead to some very special kinds of stories. But frankly, the quality of the presence one feels in VR is secondary to the simple fact that you clearly have presence and that this presence is unavoidable. “Clouds Over Sidra” is a virtual reality short film that takes us to a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. We meet a young girl who describes for us both the harsh difficulties and small joys inside Sidra as we immerse ourselves in scenes of daily life there; school, soccer games, family dinners. It’s one of the more emotionally arresting VR films to have come out, mainly because of the subject matter (a homesick little girl quietly crying in…