Poetic storytelling with VR
Experimental interaction project
Designer & engineer (C#)
Context
Have you ever had a memory stuck on loop?
After a traumatic experience, our sense of reality shifts as we realize we lost control of our emotional and/or physical safety. Shocked by the loss, our brains will revisit the memory later, playing it over, slowing down aspects, to figure out just when things go wrong.
When do you stop revisiting the memory? When do you accept that maybe you never had control in the first place?
Design
Using VR to tell a story words cannot
Trying to tell this story of control and trauma was difficult. I felt limited by words, movement, and time.
Yet, I found myself inspired by virtual reality as a tool for narrative. Through VR, I could break the laws of reality to tell a story in a whole new way. Specifically, I was able to use C# to create new laws around time and space - allowing me to capture the story.
The story
When the user first wakes in the scene, they think they are in control. They go down this path, most likely wondering about what is next.
However, at the end of the path, they experience the “trauma” and find themselves back at the beginning of the memory.
Now, stuck in a memory loop, the user can choose to continue down the same path - only to end up seeing the "trauma" again and then finding themselves at the beginning of the memory.
As users go through the loop, they may notice that their movement controls the world. They can choose to stop and pause the world from continuing. However, no matter what they cannot stop the end result - running into the trauma.
Ultimately, the user has to decide to take off the headset - letting go of the trauma and choosing to stop the memory loop.
