03 VR Play

Some Feelings & Thoughts...

It is so real that I can turn around and see a scene behind me. I talked to myself, when I was playing the VR game. I am very easy to get shy if I have to perform on stage or in front of others. Therefore, wearing a VR headset and interacting with the content via body movements did make me feel a little bit awkward at first, because I couldn't tell whether I am posing weirdly through others' feedbacks. At the same time, I enjoyed the freedom of being able to exploring the environment in a virtual but also private reality, where I feel safe. If I were playing VR in my own bedroom, this experience will be heavenly like. Although during the game play, I was so into the game Beat Saber so I didn't even notice that I had physically walked forward and reached the room boundary, I can still feel my own physical body and consistently adjusting my movements to ensure that it didn't look too awkward.

The other reason why I think I have free will, or say self consciousness during the VR game play is that the way my hands interact with physical objects will not be pressing buttons, except for digital interface. Further, physical/tactile feedbacks are crucial in order to make the whole experience realistic, comparing with the ground reality. However, once I get the hang of its controller operation, and I was putting myself into the game mechanics enough, I could occasionally forget about my actual hands, also because we do not tend to look at our hands during our daily routine from our eyes' level (see how we interact with objects in the field study videos).

Besides, I think the audio played a big part in this immersive experience, where the stereo channels produced the illusion that I was in the center of the space and I was able to measure objects' distance, sizes and moving speed via the sound. I personally prefer the high-poly visual style, which delivered a comfy, relaxing but distinguish (to the grounded reality) experience for me take a nap from the ground reality. All in all, at this point, I see VR not as a replacement for the ground reality, but a crafted/control alternative environment where we can get the tasks done, while excluding the unwanted noises.

sep.20 2019