VR Hijacking Your Brain

I was checking out magazine section in Barnes and Noble and came across the spring 2018 issue of CNET. There was an interesting article by Joan E. Solsman, that talked about Virtual Reality (VR for short) and how VR is hacking our brains. CNET had previously published the article online on July 21, 2017. Solsman writes about her experience while at the Baobab Studio. She was there testing out the studio's latest VR animated short called “Legend of Crow” which is now called “Rainbow Crow”. The studio has made other VR animated short such as “Asteroids” and “Invasion”. In her article she tells us about how VR game and stories are tricking our brains into getting emotionally and physically involved.

 Invasion Screenshot

Source: Baobab Studios

I bought a HTC VIVE when it first came in 2016. The HTC VIVE is a VR headset with tracking sensors and motion controllers. I did a lot of research before buying the VIVE. I watched a lot of videos of people playing the VIVE before it was released. I loved the video where the people playing it were so into the games that they forgot that it wasn’t real, like The Lab which is a game made up of a bunch of mini games to show the capabilities of the VIVE. The Lab was developed by Valve and remains one the best VR games to date. Watching people play this game on YouTube was one reason that made me want a VR headset. There’s a part in one of the mini games where the players are asked to repair a robot and when time runs out the robot would break into pieces and fall to the floor. Shortly after that the floor would open and the pieces would fall through the opening in the floor. The people’s reaction during that part is the best. Many of the people even jumped back right when the floor opened up to avoid falling in the hole.

Watching my friends and family play the VIVE, they were all impressed on how immersive it was. It also made for some very funny reaction videos. I walked everybody through that one mini game from The Lab just to see and hear their response to the floor opening up. Just like the video I viewed every one of my friends and family freaked out and jumped back. It was funny watching my brother playing a game called Raw Data which is a first-person shooter where the player has a choice to play with a gun or sword to fight against evil robots. During this game my brother was so involved that he reached out his hand to rest it on the control panel in the game and fell right on the real floor. VR visually makes your brain feel as if you’re there fighting real robots. You see bullets, robot, aliens, zombies and etc.. coming at you and visually you feel a sense of urgency to react.

Raw Data Screenshot

Source: Survios,INC

The article compares the difference between immersion in different mediums like books, video games, movies and VR. In the article it mentions that VR gives a different kind of immersion than movies and books do. The article also suggests that you will be more emotionally involved in VR than in other any other medium. This seems true when comparing how friends watch a movie versus playing a game in VR. They move to avoid an object in VR game or VR movie by side stepping or ducking. While watching a traditional movie they see something bad about to happen to their favorite character and they might wince or jerk a little bit but there isn’t a physical reaction because they have no control. However, in a video game that is not in VR some of my friends will move their bodies to try to avoid a bullet coming at them then immediately get laugh at themselves for taking the game too serious. In VR it’s a legitimate way to move so you won’t get hit.

In my opinion VR still has a long way to go before VR starts to “feel real”. For example, when Solsman reached out to touch a snowflake in the virtual-reality animated short “Rainbow Crow” she was a little disappointed that she didn’t feel a thing. We are a long way from simulating the touching of an object and different weather environments. I personally haven’t watched “Rainbow Crow” but I have watched Invasion and other VR short films. I find watching VR shorts boring at times and when I watched Invasion, I turned my head and was looking at something else when the aliens landed and I missed it. The next thing I know I turn my head back and there was an alien in my face. This happened to me many times in other shorts. That’s one of good thing about movies, books and some video games. You are guided by the director and writer and you see what they want you to see. I also found it hard to tolerate the VR headset when watching a VR short. It's far more relaxing to watch a movie without a big headset on.

Resources:

    Solsman, Joan E. “Cartoon Bunnies Are Hacking Your Brain.” Business Publisher, 2018, pp. 56–59.

             “Invasion!” Baobab Studios, www.baobabstudios.com/invasion.

            

               Raw Data, survios.com/rawdata/.