In Chapter 3 of Hamlet on the Holodeck, Janet H. Murray elaborates on the concept of additive and expressive forms. Additive forms, including narrative films (initially), eBooks, and even web soaps, are those that depend and even piggyback on existing media formats instead of taking advantage of the new affordances and forms of expression they offer. Expressive forms, on the other hand, are capable of maximizing their “own affordances that can be used for creating new forms of narrative” (113). For instance, social media platforms, with their own particular rules, norms, and expectations, allow for new modes of expression online. Unless in Twitter, for example, people would not necessarily limit their what they say or express to 280 characters.
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In my opinion, the additive or expressive nature of VR cannot be fully generalized, and instead seems to change according to its different cases and applications. For instance, it could be argued that 360 films in VR lean more towards the additive spectrum, as it utilizes virtual reality as another, arguably more immersive, movie theater. However, when using 360 VR films in a way that leverages on the capabilities of a VR headset, either through spatial audio or through the capacity of moving inside the film, this medium veers away from its predecessors. For instance, once I experienced a VR film where the user was physically placed in the middle of 4 different locations (an art gallery, a dark alley, an apartment room, and a hallway), all having scenes happening simultaneously. Depending on which scene one views, one could hear and understand what was happening in that one pocket of the story. As the narrative progressed, it became clear that the 4 locations are heavily related to one another and to the overall story, with one character eventually going through all of them. Being an omniscient viewer that could literally see all 4 scenes representing the same moment in time was something I had never experienced before, and which I consider a positive push for VR towards becoming a more expressive form. This same argument can also be applied to VR games, which could be considered the additive form of 3D digital games. When leveraging on the unique affordances of Virtual Reality, such as by providing more immersion through more intuitive controllers whose functionality fits with their use in VR, the medium definitely veers more towards being an expressive form.