Author: Pangna Sun

Out of all the cities that my mind wandered around, Despina is the most memorable and connected to me. I feel so connected to this city maybe because I understand this city the most. And I understand this city the most maybe because I feel so connected to this city.

In Invisible Cities, Calvino illustrates Despina as “a border city between two deserts,” the reason being that this city locates between two barrens: a desert and a sea (15). This description, however, gives rise to several questions: what differentiates this city from those deserts? What prevents this city from falling into or becoming a part of one of those barrens? And the most of important of all, what is so special about Despina to be able to withstand these two inhabitable lands? As unraveled in the text, Despina’s power to resist these two hostile geographies comes from its ability to fulfill, or at least to create an illusion that it has the ability to fulfill, travelers’ desires. For instance, a traveler in the desert sees the city as “a ship; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a vessel that will take him away from the desert…” (14). On the other hand, a sailor on the sea thinks of this city as “a camel’s withers…; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a camel from whose pack hang wineskins and bags of candied fruit…”(14). This shows that although these travelers see the city or think of the city differently, depending on which front they are from, they all see this city as a place that will be able to fulfill their desires, a place of salvation. At the end, it does not matter where they journey from because this city will be able to satisfy all their needs (or at least that what the city makes them believe). Thus, as long as travelers see the city this way, the city will be able to stand strong between these two deserts.

Despina’s ability to fulfill, or at least to deceive that it is able to fulfill, travelers’ desires is the reason why I associated myself closely with this city; it reminds me home. For me, home is, or at least seems to be, the most habitable place in the world. And home is, or at least seems to be, the place where all my needs and desires can be fulfilled. In addition, it does not matter which direction you see or enter your home from; your home will always make you feel home just like how Despina is able to make travelers hospitable. For these reasons, I am able to create a connection this Despina much easier than I am able to connect to other described cities in this book.

As I am formulating a response for this post, I could not help but wonder what is the current, most popular game genre. I googled and was not surprised that RPG games are ranked among the top three popular game genres. RPG games are becoming more and more popular because players are able to form their own narrative instead of blindly following set instructions to win or lose. Interestingly, winning or losing seems to becomes less important to users. For example, players choose the losing in the game Myst because “the winning ‘losing’ endings of the game are much more satisfying than the winning ending.”(175) Another example of how winning is not as important as it used to be: “instead of playing to increase their score, MUDders now indulged in more intense role-playing. And with the increase in immersive involvement came a desire to construct their own virtual worlds.”( 182-183)

Being immersive is an important part of RPG games because they allow players to feel their presence in the games. And because they feel their presence in the games, they have the desire to navigate and interact with the game’s environment. RPG games do not have very strict rules or instructions for players follow, so they are free to explore and interact. This freedom of navigation and interaction could a great sense of agency because players actually see the result of their free-will-decision-making actions.

Still, giving players too much freedom could also take a way a sense of agency away from a game. I remember playing a game where my character was stuck in a very large room and I had to figure a way out. There were so many objects in the room and the room itself was so large that just walked around, picked up random objects, and threw them away. It was fun at first but eventually I got a headache because I had no idea how to solve the puzzle to unlock the door. With this, I just want to remind that there’s always a slippery slope to look out for.

One of the main concepts is “the fourth wall, an enchanted threshold object that carries you into the immersive world–and then out again” (Murray 134). For instance, the boat in the Jurassic Park is the medium that allows people travel through the dinosaur world, but, at the same time, the boat reminds the people that the world is illusionary. In another word, the boat sets the border between reality and illusion. Having a border or threshold object in a virtual world is important because it prevents users from getting lost in their invented world. For example, Murray brings up a fictional story in which the character Harold has the ability to turn his drawing into reality with a magic crayon. Because the only limitation to this special ability is his imagination, Harold creates such an immersive world that even he himself gets lost and can not find the way to his real world. Then he remembers some details of his world that allows him to get back (Murray 128). This example shows how users can easily get lost in the virtual world if the borderline between reality and virtuality is not clear.

The two VR animations above provide a perfect segue way to discuss Murray’s points regarding users’ presence. In the first VR animation Invasion!, I feel like I am a part of the environment because I am seeing things through the perspective of a bunny instead of myself. The creator creates this feeling by making users see things at the height of bunny (things around users seem big and tall) and the other bunny does not seem to be scared of you. Thus, instead of being an observer, I am actually one of the characters in the animation. How could the users believe that they are one of the characters? This links back to Murray concept of “the active creation of belief”and “the willing suspension of disbelief” (136). The users know that they are holding a piece of Google Cardboard, but if they are willing to neglect this minor fact and let themselves believe what they see through those lenses, they will be able to become a bunny!

In contrast to the first VR animation, Crow: The Legend VR provides a different role for users. Even if the users use the same Google Cardboard and are willing to neglect the fact that they are using it, like they did when watching Invasion!, they will not feel that they are a part of the animation because Crow: The Legend VR sets its users as observers instead of as one of its characters. When I am watching this animation, I feel out of place because I do not know what role I play in the events that are happening. In addition, when many things are happening at once, I need to turn around frequently to make sure that I will not miss anything. Thus, despite being in the environment, I do not actually feel that I am a part of the environment at all. Since the creator does not want the users to be apart of the story, it would have been better to watch the animation in 3D glasses instead of trying to immerse in it. Hence, the level of users’s presence in a VR environment hugely depends on their role in the VR world.