Visceral Reality
by Casey Hawkins
Before I tried VR for the first time, I was skeptical about how much it would change my overall gaming experience. I’ve been a gamer my whole life, losing myself in one digital world after another. I never needed a separate method of viewing the game in order for it to sell that sense of immersion, which is why I never really considered trying VR in the past.
A few days ago, I loaded a roller coaster simulation onto my phone and slotted it into a MergeVR headset. Despite the simulator’s relatively low graphical quality, I was still genuinely surprised at how immersive the experience was. It couldn’t quite produce the same feeling as being on a roller coaster, but for my intentions it didn’t really matter. It tapped into the same brain functions which process my normal views of reality, everywhere I looked was a digital landscape and it made it seem like I was more or less inside this world. It had added something to the experience which transcended my normal conceptualization of interactivity. For a moment, it was easy for me to forget that I was sitting in my dorm room.
[Tweet “”However, to me this begs the question: Can VR become too immersive?””]
I bring this up because VR has obviously taken strides which far surpass the initial experience I had in terms of realism. A few days ago at their annual E3 press briefing, Bethesda Softworks announced that two of its AAA titles, Fallout 4 and Doom, would soon be VR-compatible. A couple of days later, they announced that the massively popular Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim would be receiving the same treatment. Within the gaming industry, Bethesda is known for creating some of the most vast and interactive digital worlds ever in video games. Fans routinely pour hundreds of hours into each new release. Now that these games will be VR-compatible, these worlds will be experienced like never before. No longer are players looking through a screen at an image, the image is all around them; the world is alive. Turn your head to the right and you might see a mountain you can traverse. Turn the other way and there’s a new town to discover. For fans of these series, it’s all incredibly exciting. However, to me this begs the question: Can VR become too immersive?
[Tweet “”A common concern is that of ‘desensitization,’ or simply becoming turned off to violent images.””]
The visceral intensity of games has been a point of contention among lawmakers and concerned parents for years, believing that video games do play a part in influencing behavior. A common concern is that of “desensitization,” or simply becoming turned off to violent images or behavior. Additionally, some studies have shown that “cyber addiction” is a real phenomenon, where players grow to prefer the life they spend inside a virtual world as opposed to their real life. These types of aspects have been seen in psychological studies of video games for years, but VR will take these sentiments to a whole new level. Additionally, as visual fidelity and gameplay functionality continue to improve, the line between actions performed in real life and in games will continue to blur. How VR affects people long-term has yet to be determined, but there is no question that it stimulates extra intensity within the gaming experience, especially with games as deeply immersive as Bethesda’s.
So, where does the line exist between making games more immersive and making sure that they don’t utterly consume people’s lives? Will the addictive qualities that some games exhibit prove to be overwhelming for some gamers as VR makes its way into the mainstream? At this point, studies cannot prove how VR ultimately affects us, but there is no doubt that VR is becoming increasingly like real life. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your perspective, but the medium will be providing new levels of immersion which have never been seen before.
[Tweet “”How VR affects people long-term has yet to be determined.””]
For me as a gamer, the sense of immersion is very important in making the game stand in my memory. My favorite games have always sold their universes in a manner in which it seems as though they could exist on their own. I think that any psychological impairments which may result from gaming depend solely on the individual, but there is no doubt that these virtual worlds will become more alluring as time goes on. Whether or not developers will have a problem on their hands in these situations remains to be seen. On the one hand, the future of gaming has never looked brighter, but there are potential uncertainties which need to be kept in mind.
