My 5-year-old twin boys call the virtual reality system we have at home, “Goggle Movies.” Parker carefully slips the Oculus Rift (2017) headpiece over his ears, sits on the floor, and with a full-face grin attempts to grab a sea turtle that swims above him. Martin loses his patience and tries to grab the headset off his brother’s head, eventually gets his turn, and prefers a roller coaster video where he can lie on the floor and toss and turn with the ride. Just as Baby Boomers grew up with television and the Millennials the web, my sons’ generation (the Digitals?) will think nothing special of virtual reality news and entertainment programs that they watch while they sit spread out in comfy chairs in the back of their self-driving cars on the drive home.
In case you’ve spent the last year listening too much to your LP records in the comfort of your book-filled den, the technologies featured in this chapter are the NEXT BIG THINGS. There are two reasons why these content platforms have received so much publicity and why any current experiments and beta presentations will soon be thought of as quaint historical artifacts much as someone who holds a strip of 35mm negative film up to a light.
But before we get too far into immersive media, let’s start this chapter with some reality reality (RR) because there is no technology that can match the immersive experience provided to you by your mind. If you ever find yourself with a few free hours in the quaint college town of Oxford in Great Britain, first off, consider yourself lucky. By luck or design, you have been blessed with the opportunity to explore a city that was established more than a thousand years ago. Walk to Broad Street and explore the Bodleian Library, one of the oldest and largest in Europe. Purchase a biography of an altogether strange fellow and typographer Eric Gill at Blackwell’s Bookshop (and be sure to get the shopkeeper to stamp the store’s logo on a page). Later at the King’s Arms or The White Horse tavern, enjoy a pint of ale while you read.
Whatever you do, don’t miss the stone steps between the sculpted heads of philosophers that lead to the entrance of the Museum of the History of Science (“Welcome to the museum,” 2017). Perhaps you may say to yourself that the title is a bit pretentious, but that initial conclusion is only because you are reading these words and have not actually visited a place that exhibits scientific equipment from the Middle Ages to the 1900s. Erected in 1663 to hold a rich guy’s vast collection, the building is the oldest content-specific museum in the world with about 20,000 objects. In a brightly lit room, jam-packed with wall hangings and reverently displayed objects in tediously dusted glass cases infused with an odd smell reminiscent of a combination of ether and your grandma’s house, an old-fashioned blackboard – the kind that was used when I was a young student and I would fight for a teacher’s attention by volunteering to slap the chalk dust out of the erasers – leans against a wall. A blackboard? So what? Well, none other than Albert Einstein used that slate surface crowded with strange mathematical markings when he gave lectures at the University of Oxford in 1931. Just a few meters away in that same room and within a glass case is an exhibit that peaked my interest even more than a visual representation of Einstein’s mind and relativity – the equipment, carrying case, and detailed recipe for the photographs produced by Charles Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll. Still think this museum’s name is pretentious?
If you are not quite as fortunate to actually walk the streets of Oxford, or almost any other city in the world, no matter. Open up Google Earth, put on an HTC Vive (2017) virtual reality (VR) headset and experience the magic of immersive storytelling as stated by the public relations machine of the web browser, “Explore the world from totally new perspectives. Stroll the streets of Tokyo, soar over Yosemite, or teleport across the globe.” Exciting stuff.
In truth, however, VR is not quite that real – yet. Although you can pretend to window shop along the old streets and sidewalks or even fly along the rooftops of Oxford like a tech-savvy Mary Poppins, you can’t open any door and enter. Alas, in VR, the wooden portal for the Museum of the History of Science remains closed and its abundant exhibits are out of your visual grasp. Although you decide where you want to travel, the Google Earth version of VR is a passive experience. You are watching scenes as if inside an enhanced motion picture in which you can look side-to-side, behind, up, or down to get additional views through the array’s 720-degree viewport (a combination of two circles – one horizontal and the other vertical). And while the feeling of control is enhanced by your decisions of where to soar and what to view, engagement is limited to admiring or critiquing the natural and architectural wonders depending on your point-of-view.
Virtual reality’s sibling is known as augmented reality (AR) also known as mixed reality (MR). The best systems seamlessly combine elements of VR with your own environment. Think of the 2016 fad, Pokémon Go in which players walked to various locations to find and capture cartoon characters that showed up on a smartphone’s screen (one user was hit by a car when she walked into traffic). Advertisers, publishers, gamers, and journalists print coded graphic designs that create 3D objects and films when viewed with a smartphone’s app. For example, a special issue of Esquire magazine featured Robert Downey, Jr. on its cover touting its AR content (“Esquire’s augmented reality,” 2012). David Granger, Editor-in-Chief of Esquire, indicated that there were “70,000 downloads of the software to have the AR experience” representing about 10 percent of the magazine’s circulation. In addition to the Esquire cover, 3D displays could also be found on the covers of DE:BUG, a German publication that specializes in technology culture and the American magazine Popular Science. Topps introduced AR baseball cards while the US Postal Service announced an application that let customers see if the contents to be shipped would fit within one of their flat rate boxes. Artist Lucas Blalock produced the first photography book that uses AR to enhance a viewer’s experience in Making Memeries, a play on Richard Dawkins’ word creation, the meme (Stam, 2016).
Although interesting, AR programs are still mainly used solely to attract attention. On occasion, AR content can be found in printed publications, as a part of arcade-style games, on business cards, and as thinly disguised sales gimmicks for shoppers with a smartphone. There should be no reason, other than a lack of creativity, that a newspaper or magazine page, a press release, an advertisement, or a website cannot include a 3D informational graphic, an organization’s director introducing a new service, a behind-the-scene look from a newly released motion picture, or an interactive map that pops up valuable information in the face of an engaged user.
The primary commercial VR systems available to the public are Google VR in cardboard and headset versions, Sony’s PlayStation VR, codename “Project Morpheus” appropriately named after a character in The Matrix, Samsung Gear VR from the electronics giant and designed for the company’s smartphones (best played near a smoke detector), HTC Vive, introduced by the Taiwanese electronics company HTC and the Valve Corporation, a video game developer, and the Oculus Rift, introduced by Palmer Luckey in 2011 (Vincent, 2017). In the tradition of computer innovators of the past, he made his prototype as an 18-year-old working out of his parents’ garage in Long Beach, California. Luckey also received guidance and inspiration from Associate Professor Mark Bolas and his Mixed-Reality Lab at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies and Nonny de la Peña (Richmond, 2017). More on her and her work a bit later. Three years after Luckey’s breakthrough, Facebook bought his company for $2 billion. Lucky indeed. The PlayStation, Vive and Rift devices come with hand controllers that allow users to grab and move virtual objects seen through headsets. This additional feature is important as it clearly delineates the difference between watching and engaging. This hands-on feature separates static movies from real world interactive experiences.
Recent and new VR game titles that transport a user into a fantasy, digital world can communicate feelings of admiration, surprise, wonder, and curiosity – all vital components of the chief marketing element that keeps consumers and major corporations interested – magic. When viewing a well-designed VR world for the first time, the simplest description is often the best – it is a vivid, dream-like enchantment unlike any existing experience you might have without a headset.
Google “VR games” or link to vrgamesfor.com and you will discover a world of gaming that is perhaps unfamiliar, untried, and unnerving. Dan Griliopoulos of Techradar, “The source for tech buying advice” lists the best VR games currently available. “Elite: Dangerous,” a massively multiplayer combat game, a frantic bomb-defusing challenge, “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes,” the blood-filled “Surgeon Simulator” (relax – the patients are space aliens), the dogfighting space adventure, “Eve: Valkyrie,” the first-person shooters, “Half-Life 2” and “Shooting Showdown 2,” and of course no list is complete without menacing, mindless zombies after your pretty face such as with “Dying Light,” a sequel of the critically acclaimed “Dead Island” based on the same premise. Notice a pattern in these choices? Violence sells. It is a variation of the old journalism trope, “If it bleeds; it leads.”
Not surprisingly, the porn industry has developed VR titles for obvious reasons. Google “VR porn” and then explain to your partner that you accessed the websites purely for research purposes. If you have the inclination, time, and funds, you can purchase a full-body “sex suit” and experience VR intercourse from a device developed by the Japanese company Tenga. Cleaning charges are extra (sorry). More insidious are titles that promote stereotypes, sexism, and misogyny. For example, Sean Buckley of engadget.com writes that “Dead or Alive Xtreme 3” rewards users for committing sexual assaults (Buckley, 2016). As reported by media critic Anita Sarkeesian, there are many other games that promote harmful female stereotypes and violence toward women (“Feminist Frequency,” 2017). She became known after she criticized the gaming industry for its male-dominated storylines under the banner heading, “Gamergate” (Hathaway, 2014). Her feminist perspective on misogynistic games as expressed through her video blog and speeches, is an important voice that provides an ethical foundation for digital productions. This concern is amplified with immersive VR systems and content. Amy Westervelt (2016) writing in Elle magazine understands that thoughtful creators should tread carefully in this medium because “VR experiences are so immersive that people often confuse virtual reality with actual reality.” She also notes, “harassment in VR is far more traumatic than in other digital worlds” because of the unsettling combination of unfamiliar circumstances, often-powerless response capabilities, and a heightened realism.
Fortunately, not all the popular titles involve gore, guts, and grabs. “Everest VR” and “The Climb,” simulate mountain ascents, “Lucky’s Tale” is similar to a classic arcade game, “Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe VR” and “Pool Nation VR” allow you to play like the analog classics, “Euro Truck Simulator 2” puts you in the cab of a, well, a cool Euro truck, “Minecraft VR” is based on the popular digger program, “Job Simulator” where you can elect to be an auto mechanic, a gourmet chef, office worker, or a store clerk, and, of course, all sorts of sports programming.
For augmented or mixed reality, the game changer was thought to be the Google Glass – the highly anticipated eyewear with see-through digital interfaces that blended with your location and marketed with a cute commercial of a guy learning to play a ukulele to impress a friend (Bhutto, 2012). Users accessed the internet and other features through voice commands. However, with concerns about privacy (hackers could steal passwords while facial recognition software could identify strangers on the street), health (eye strain and distracted walking and driving), and ethics (interviewees not knowing their words and actions were recorded by Glass journalists), the prototype was discontinued in 2015. Reportedly, the Google gang is working on an improved version. In the meantime, Microsoft, the operating system software company started by college dropouts Paul Allen and Bill Gates, has made a prototype currently named HoloLens. It’s a pair of mixed reality smartglasses (a new word) with a holographic 2D or 3D platform for use with Windows. Through simple finger movements, users can manipulate and work on any file as well as watch movies and play games (Mackie, 2016).
The Future of News
It is quite possible that AR will eventually overtake VR, but in the meantime, virtual reality dominates news stories and the public’s imagination. Media entities such as “Frontline,” ABC, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Des Moines Register, Time magazine, VICE, the Verge, and Ryot, games from HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR, as well as educational institutions such as the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California (USC) have created critically acclaimed VR motion pictures.
Most notably, “Harvest of Change” (n.d.) detailed life on a family farm in Iowa produced by staff members of the Des Moines Register. The New York Times distributed more than one million Google cardboard virtual reality viewers to subscribers and smartphone users to watch documentaries such as “Walking New York,” a tour of the wonderfully crowded streets of my home town and “Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart,” a view of the dwarf planet from the New Horizons spacecraft. Film director Spike Jonze worked with the United Nations for a documentary titled “Clouds Over Sidra,” that featured a 12-year-old Syrian girl’s experience at a refugee camp in Jordan. Jonze, a creative director for VICE and Chris Milk, a digital artist teamed to produce “the first-ever virtual reality news broadcast” titled, “VICE News VR: Millions March,” an eight-minute film that featured New York City protesters concerned with police violence (Gutelle, 2015). Ryot in conjunction with the news website The Huffington Post produced “Protect the Sacred” about the Standing Rock, North Dakota pipeline protest in 2D, 3D, and anaglyph (blue and red filtered sunglasses) 720 degree versions. The New York Times was one of the first media entities to use virtual reality technology with a smartphone app to immerse viewers into news stories. In The New York Times’ 11-minute film, “The Displaced” (2017), three children from South Sudan, the Ukraine, and Lebanon are “driven from their homes by war.” The experience of riding a bicycle from the perspective of a child is exhilarating and emotionally connecting. Rawls’ empathic philosophy, the veil of ignorance, is again evoked.
On the academic side, university programs have collaborated with VR startups and news organizations to train a new generation of immersive storytellers. From assignments offered within traditional photojournalism classes such as at the University of Texas at Dallas to entire courses concentrated on AR and VR production such as those offered at Syracuse University, students learn to use the technology to engage viewers as never before. As universities offer more immersive storytelling courses and deliver their graduates to industry innovators, additional uses for MR and VR will be discovered with users demanding more. In the end, it will be up to consumers to decide whether MR, VR, or a hybrid will ultimately be the favored platform for immersive storytelling.
However, the current interest by members of the academic and journalism professions to produce news-oriented VR programs would have been delayed several years if not for the efforts by an innovator dubbed the “Godmother of VR,” Nonny de la Peña. As a former Newsweek reporter, de la Peña combined her journalism skills, interested in engaging technology, and dynamic personality while at the USC School of Cinematic Arts to produce some of the first animated VR programs based on actual events. Some of the presentations produced include “Hunger in LA,” a short film that includes a man who has a diabetic seizure while he waits in a food line, a recreation of the 2012 Trayvon Martin shooting by George Zimmerman, “Project Syria,” that puts viewers into an Aleppo street scene, and “Across the Line,” an app that communicates the perspective of a woman seeking an abortion. de la Peña heads the Emblematic Group (2017), a VR production company she started. Palmer Luckey was one of her interns. Hello?
Whether you replay her 2015 TED talk, “The Future of News? Virtual Reality” or are lucky enough to see her in person, Nonny de la Peña inspires immersive media like no other advocate (“The future of news,” 2015). She plainly states that VR “Creates a real sense of being present on the scene. It puts the audience in a place where they can experience the sights, sounds and even emotions as events unfold. This is unlike any other medium.”
The fact that VR is unlike any other medium might help explain the fact that you have read about 2,500 words explaining what it is. Such a background with examples is not necessary for photography, motion pictures, television, and the web. So, with a better understanding of what immersive storytelling is, attention can now be drawn to the real point of this chapter and this book – what should be the ethical procedures for using this technology?
An obvious hint can be found in de la Peña’s quotation about VR. Yes, you experience the sights. And yes, you experience the sounds. But more significantly, you experience emotions. For example, she reports that users of one of her avatar-based head-mounted display movies, “Hunger in LA” left some weeping because they were moved by what they experienced and were powerless to actually help the situation. Passiveness can be extremely upsetting for many users familiar with interactive gaming systems and the control that is possible.
In the 2014 documentary Life Itself about the influence of Chicago Sun-Times cinema critic Roger Ebert, he famously said that film is a machine that generates empathy. If that is true, and I have no reason to doubt the concept that John Rawls would have no doubt supported, then a VR system in which the user has the illusion of actually being surrounded by the persons and events that compose a news story or social problem, is a machine that generates empathy on crack. In other words, being surprised how a machine can make you care is powerful and should be carefully considered by creators. We all have been raised differently with a staggering variety of experiences that make each one of us unique. Some can handle intense VR experiences while others get nauseous and alarmed by the powerful visual messages.
Ethical Considerations
One of the first to write about the ethics of VR was Tom Kent (2015), the Standards Editor for the Associated Press and an instructor at Columbia University. In his article, “An Ethical Reality Check for Virtual Reality Journalism” published in 2015 in the online publication, Medium, Kent lists several factors for maintaining ethical standards. His primary basis that starts a discussion about VR ethics is that “Viewers need to know how VR producers expect their work to be perceived, what’s been done to guarantee authenticity and what part of a production may be, frankly, supposition.” The role-related responsibility of a VR producer should be to communicate full disclosure to a user about any potentially upsetting content. That duty is at the center of ethical VR production. This need for an honest admission of the nature and specifics of a presentation is unique to VR animations. The potential for harm is greater with VR than with traditional media. Vulnerable users may watch an intense experience that places them within a situation that triggers a suppressed memory. Imagine if there were visual reporters or citizen journalists with virtual reality cameras filming the aftermath of the terrorist bombing at an arena in Manchester, England in 2017. Watching the carnage though a head-mounted display might be too much to bare for most users.
There are also technical manipulations that are often employed by VR producers that are necessary to consider. For example, if cartoon avatars within a situation are based on still photographs and/or video as with the “Hunger in LA” presentation, and a user is allowed to walk around a scene, assumptions about the sides and backs of characters and objects need to be made by graphic artists since a 2D camera only recorded the event from one perspective. Tom Kent suggests that contrived graphic images remain out of focus with a note to users at the start of a program to inform them of the meaning of this technical contrivance.
Another challenge is the one-sided nature of news coverage. Should a VR package only show one view of a news event or should the user be allowed to see multiple angles and perspectives of a controversial story? Kent thinks users should be given the choice of several angles from different witnesses. However, this recommendation is a technical challenge during a spot news event, but perhaps necessary given the nature of the enhanced realism available by the technology.
Within a virtual world with a pair of goggles tightly strapped on your head and all traces of reality eliminated, it is perhaps easy to feel a part of a scene shown through high definition images and combined with the sounds associated with a story. However, whatever a user experiences is actually contrived by the creator of the piece and is a tightly controlled program. Consequently, there are details easily missed as you experience a new environment. Also, because the film is based on real events, some facts will not be shown. Once again, full disclosure is a solution. Users should be given all of the information related to an event before the headsets are mounted, sound clues or graphic symbols to make them aware of significant directions to view a scene, and as choices within a program, additional photographs, text, and videos provided to give a more complete understanding.
Kathleen Culver (2015), an associate professor for the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication and associate director of the Center for Journalism Ethics is concerned about privacy and intellectual property issues when avatars and objects look too much like the real thing – a common criticism of Nonny de la Peña’s productions. Culver is also troubled about gruesome and frightening content that may have long-lasting effects on users. Feeling empathy toward users of VR devices is why de la Peña warns her viewers that the content may be upsetting. As Culver notes,
The most important thing that we need to keep in mind with immersive and experiential media is that because people feel like they’re somewhere else, you always need to keep the experience of the user as the most important ethical consideration.
Margaret Sullivan (2015), public editor of The New York Times wrote about VR ethics after her newspaper made “The Displaced” available with Google cardboard goggles. She reports one user’s reaction as
Five seconds into the film, I was struck by the immediacy – and the intimacy – of the images. These aren’t computer-generated faces and landscapes; they’re real people in real places, and I felt like I was standing there myself, not just observing from afar.
Once again, the realness of a VR experience is a response seldom felt with motion pictures, television, and the web regardless of how large a screen or with 3D glasses. The immediacy and the surrounding nature of the medium enhance the illusion of truth and not the suspension of disbelief. Therefore, creators, as never before, should be aware of empathic responses from users and the need to be as real as possible within the unreal world of virtual reality.
Traditional visual reporters often voice a common concern – will AR and VR immersive stories be considered on a par with video games? Will news reporting be turned into a superficial form of entertainment that excites the eyes but adds little to long-term understanding of an issue? No doubt early adopters of news oriented stereocards, 3D photographs viewed with a stereoscope during the turn of the previous century were equally educated and fascinated by scenes of devastation of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and other significant events. Likewise, newsreel films shown in movie theaters, multi-page picture stories printed in Life magazine or in a reader’s local newspaper, and motion picture, television, and cable channel documentaries have no doubt pleased and prodded patrons of these presentations. Entertainment has always been a part and a concern for the journalism profession. It seems certain that AR and VR will amplify the discussion. That’s a good thing.
The major take-away for this chapter should be that immersive media are no longer in the fad stage of development but are fast becoming established mainstream methods of presentation for persuasive, entertainment, and journalism endeavors. As such, the rules for ethical behavior, although inspired from traditional news values, loyalties, and procedures, have yet to be written in full. Hopefully, you will be part of a team of communicators responsible for codifying the ethics of this powerful and little understood technology.
Case Studies
Case Study One
One of the most common, and most invisible, injuries soldiers face when they return from war is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. It is especially likely to strike individuals who witness symptoms include nightmares, insomnia, and feelings of isolation, irritability, and guilt. Individuals who witness sudden and unexpected traumatic events are, including those that happen on battlefields, especially prone to developing PTSD. The condition is hard to treat, and even harder to get rid of. For soldiers with PTSD, it can be even harder because many believe that admitting they need help, counseling, or psychiatric intervention are signs of weakness.
In recent years, however, researchers have begun to use virtual reality (VR) technology to treat PTSD. Now, soldiers can safely re-expose themselves to their trauma, in order to re-live their memories and slowly discharge them of their power. The goal is to allow those who are struggling with the condition to find a way through it, rather than hiding it away because of stigma. The RAND Corporation, a global policy think tank, estimates that nearly half of all veterans with PTSD resist getting help, and that the military doesn’t do enough to try to change this.
“How virtual reality is helping heal soldiers with PTSD.” (April 3, 2017). NBC News. Accessed June 30, 2017 from https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/innovation/how-virtual-reality-helping-heal-soldiers-ptsd-n733816.
See Appendix B for the 10-Step Systematic Ethical Analysis Form.
Case Study Two
The chance to try VR is getting less expensive all the time, and so making it possible for journalists to make it a part of their story. With the advent of Google Cardboard, for example, individuals can get VR goggles for just a few dollars online or at their local drugstore. With this in mind, in 2016 The Guardian created a VR story called 6×9. The point of the story was to let viewers get a sense of what it felt like to be in prison, in solitary confinement, in a cell that was six feet wide by nine feet long. The hope was that those who took the time to look, would experience a sense of empathy that went beyond what is possible in more traditional media formats.
But this raises the question as to how much more advanced VR will have to get before this is really the case. As it is, one can look for a moment and see into the cell, maybe feel its presence for a moment, but then escape. Certainly, this is “virtual,” but it is not “reality.”
“How virtual reality is bringing journalism to life.” (April 5, 2017). Media Update. Accessed June 30, 2017 from https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/133189/how-virtual-reality-is-bringing-journalism-to-life.
See Appendix B for the 10-Step Systematic Ethical Analysis Form.
Case Study Three
When it comes to VR, one thing many people worry about is the problem of moral panic. Moral panic happens when an idea of fear spreads through a society – a notion, for example, that something should be avoided because it is wrong. So, when it comes to VR, proponents worry that it will get a bad reputation because people will use it improperly – to have lifelike experiences sleeping with hookers, robbing banks, or engaging in mass shootings. If this happens, people will begin to see VR as a threat to society, rather than as something good, and so try to outlaw it. Then, a tool that could have led to solving complex and difficult problems will be lost. In response, VR proponents encourage developers to take a proactive approach that includes encouraging journalists to write stories about the possible good VR can do, alongside provocative stories about potential harms.
Scott, C. (April 5, 2017). “Why moral panic could be detrimental to the virtual reality industry.” Journalism. Accessed June 30, 2017 from https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/why-publishers-of-virtual-reality-need-to-be-aware-of-moral-panic/s2/a702215/.
See Appendix B for the 10-Step Systematic Ethical Analysis Form.
Annotated Sources
de la Pena, N. et al. (2010). “Immersive journalism: Immersive virtual reality for the first-person experience of news.” Presence, 19(4), 291–301.
This paper explores the new idea of virtual reality journalism where the audience can go inside a virtually reconstructed story to gain a first-person view of the details. It explores the ethics of virtual reality journalism and the current state of the technology, as well as the theoretical details backing up this concept. The authors argue virtual reality journalism offers a profound new way to understand the news and a new way to experience it.
Lorenzini, C. et al. (2015). “A Virtual Laboratory: An immersive VR experience to spread ancient libraries heritage.” Digital Heritage, 2, 639–642.
To bring the resources of a library to the public, these researchers utilized immersive virtual reality in the form of a video game. The game was one where players did medical distillation in a medieval alchemy lab. This article outlines the tests of the game and the improvements made to make the game more appealing and fun for users. It details a new form of knowledge transmission through virtual reality that can be used with more traditional forms of learning environments, like museums.
Lugrin, J. et al. (2010). “Exploring the usability of immersive interactive storytelling.” VRST ’10: Proceedings of the 17th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology. November.
The authors explore the feasibility of storytelling through virtual reality. They found that users could engage with their immersive narrative and were just as successful in completing the virtual reality narrative as they were with the traditional video game style narrative.
References
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