About Volatile Vectors

One of VR’s biggest promises is the fundamental concept of presence, creating unique opportunities for enhanced entertainment. Even mundane everyday tasks can be fun and enjoyable in VR. Point in case being games like Job & Vacation Simulator or even Pane in the glass, a game about cleaning windows on the facade of a skyscraper while dodging birds. The sensation of being there instead of just interacting with the environment on a flat-screen has the power to induce vertigo, but also to make just fooling around with the surroundings compelling.

Presence in VR is amplified further by the fact, that interactions are much more natural. Even with the abstraction of current generation VR controllers, interactions feel surprisingly intuitive and more meaningful, then achieving complex task via the simple press of a button.

VR also holds the power to generate deeply impactful – and very real – empathy. Immersed in VR, otherwise anonymous stories can transform into a real understanding of the emotional state – joy, pain, fear, distress, … – of its protagonists. Providing very tangible experiences, that allow for an emotional connection rarely possible in movies or traditional games. Because VR as a medium allows you to truly take a new perspective.

Looking at the movie and video game industry it is considered to be very hard to craft big effect heavy blockbuster movies, because of the costs involved. At the same time there is a thriving independent movie scene, which focuses on smaller more constrained settings and themes mainly driven by character development, intricate personal stories and putting an emphasis on dialogue instead of big action set pieces. The video game industry on the other hand has the inverse problem. It’s relatively easy to craft big action epics even for small studios, while writing good dialogue, relatable well crafted characters, and personal stories are hard, not the least because it’s harder to keep players engaged and interested, but also because making typically very linear stories work in an interactive medium is not an easy task. VR presents an opportunity to craft more intimate, meaningful experiences as it has the power to explore new concepts of storytelling and how users interact with a story in a smaller setting. This is partly due to the engagement naturally being higher. Completely immersed in a virtual reality, it demands a commitment other forms of entrainment simply can not compete with. Users need to dedicate time to exclusively interact with an experience for a while without any distractions that would diminish their ability to empathize with characters for instance. Another reason is VR is perfectly suited for room scale experiences, that take place in small and confined, but highly detailed and interactive places. Overall this can be a burden in terms of getting users into VR at all, but at the same time a chance to offer more meaningful and powerful experiences.

Consequently all this extents far beyond just entertainment. Global travel is one area where VR can shine in providing means to see the world. While it won’t replace physical travel it offers opportunities for the elderly, the physically challenged, or those for whom the luxury of travel is simply out of reach. Users will be enabled to visit popular sightseeing spots, the world’s greatest museums, or attend virtual events like concerts, conferences, or sports - all from the comfort of their own homes. For little to no costs involved. Naturally the same possibilities exist for offering education, training applications, remote collaborative work, or video conferencing. Globally available to entire societies, and not just a local few individuals.

As with any new technology that holds great promise, serious known – and unknown – risks exist. VR holds the power to take already intense experiences several extreme steps further. Blood, gore, frightening, or shocking situations suddenly do not feel like observed from the outside, from a distant perspective any more. The prospect of very real trauma becomes very real indeed.

VR provides many interesting challenges and design problems. These can be technical limitations to work around as well as ethical responsibilities for the users well being. Volatile Vectors vision is to explore all kinds of creative new ways to use VR. Be it adapting classical experiences to the new medium or novel never seen before experiments in interaction, storytelling, entertainment, and learning.

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