Category: Reading Response 2

I really liked the part about the fourth wall, as mentioned by Murray. It’s the “enchanted object that carries you into the immersive world- and then out again”. There’s a threshold between illusion and reality and VR helps us pass through that threshold, bringing the illusion to us, or us into the illusion. This wall is simutaneously a symbol of the boundary between reality and illusion as well as a part of the illusory world.

When I first tried Cardboard, I tried watching the Lego Batman experience. I found it hilarious, since I’ve seen the Lego Batman movie already, but even without that, I think the VR experience was great. I found it interesting that I was told I was in a VR experience to begin with, during the experience. It wasn’t pretending to be a real experience at all. I also liked the way motion was simulated, and you could see the city around you as you moved. Also, characters directly interact with you which puts you in the middle of the action and makes the experience more immersive.

What drew me the most to this chapter on ‘Immersion’, is the active and continuous creation of belief, and how the participant must always participate in the “willing suspension of disbelief”. On. deeper level users are not only suspending disbelief, but they are constantly creating it and reinforcing the reality of the entire experience. We tend to consume different forms of media in a very similar way, and digital environments are no different; as we often apply our own experiences to the world we are digitally inhabiting.

We bring our own cognitive, cultural, and psychological templates to every story as we assess the characters and anticipate the way the story is likely to go.

Janet Murray

Another method used in fictional worlds that is meant to actively create belief, is the construction of worlds and narratives with vivid details and intricacies. This is meant to help participants in said worlds to further immerse themselves in the narrative, due to the fact that there are many elements to keep track of. This is also a system of participation and reward; as the user’s attention to detail is rewarded with a consistency of imagination and world building. It is quite interesting to observe how these participatory environments immerse their users and help them bring life to imaginary narratives and objects.

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.

Reading about the fragility of immersion really opened my eyes to what it means to be an immersive storyteller. The author speaks about the importance of having consistency, active creation of belief and careful regulation in the boundaries between the imaginary and the real in order to maintain immersion. After reading I explored a few 360 experiences and attempted applying Murray’s arguments on them. The one that stood out to me the most was this experience:

Overall, I found this experience to be very immersive. The areas that take away from that immersion is the nature of the google cardboard. During the spacewalk, the viewer is asked to do things around the spacecraft which took me out of the immersion since I was sitting there not doing anything and watching my virtual hands move all on their own. Outside of that, the experience succeeded in being immersive through all the details they provided. First of all the voice of the guy talking to you and the voice-effect he had on allow the viewers to really take on the costume of the astronaut. Details such as the heart rate and oxygen levels also aided in the feeling that it was real, when the astronaut leaves the spacecraft and looks out at the earth you look down and see your heart rate go up which helps connect the video and your real-life reactions. Another area that aided in immersion was the intricate and heavy movement the astronaut makes, it is more believable you are in space because of how those movements help in making you believe the gravity is different. The overall experience was very consistent in all the space-astronaut details, with the placement of objects and the tasks the astronaut has to do, the different voice overs and the count downs, and the weight of the astronaut.

Post a brief response (1-2 paragraphs) to the reading, Hamlet on the Holodeck, Ch 4: Immersion, and put it under category Reading Response 2.

Execute and address the below question in your response, be ready to talk about them in class next week

• Take a look at the Google Cardboard official app (Android, iOS)
• Try another 1 to 2 mobile VR experiences (source: Within, youtube etc)
• Evaluate their level of immersion, what works and what does not?

Do not emphasize graphics, but instead evaluate using the concepts Murray introduced, e.g. Active Creation of Believe, threshold object, border of illusion, role of the participant, smart costume, mechanics to simulate physical acts, and any other elements of immersion that are not covered in the chapter.