Recently, visiting the VR centre ‘Otherworld’, I experienced VR for the first time.
I have conflicting views on VR, and have been against it as a concept and idea since first hearing about it. My basis for this objection to VR was that we already live in a world very immersed in technology (more than we should be in my opinion) and we already spend far too much time with our minds in computers trying to archive some form of stimulation, rather than doing natural human activities for mental stimulation, and engaging with nature and the real physical world around us. I also think that far too much of the youth spend far too much time playing games on their xbox or playstation, rather than interacting with other humans in the real world, where they will learn real life lessons and develop, and I feel that as VR develop’s, the youth will be even more drawn into the escapism and ease of VR gaming, rather than being in the real world, especially if their friends are in the meta-verse vr world and not outside playing in the real world.
I believe this is already a big problem, and is only going to increase, and I feel that there are not many benefits to the development of virtual reality.
However, in a lesson on VR, I was introduced to some uses for vr that I had previously not thought about, such as use of VR for charities, in order for people to experience walking through some of these areas that the charities are working in, in order to better understand these areas and why the charity work needs to be done. They call the vr for this use ’empathy machines’ which is a very dystopian concept to me, that humans are so far removed from our emotions and rationalisation of reality, that we resort to building a machine to bring out our empathy, instead of naturally being empathetic about a situation. Despite mixed feelings about the phrase ’empathy machine’, I do understand that in this context, there may be value to the VR, especially since there are so many different charities, and so many deserving causes for donation across the world. I can see how it might be helpful, to have a vr experience where you can see all the places where a charity is working and see where you want to put your donations.
Another potential positive of vr could be for people that are unable to travel, for them to be able to simulate walking around an area that might otherwise be inaccessible, this type of experience could also help with learning about an area in a deeper way than just reading about it.
Despite the potential benefits, I still personally believe that the negatives far outweigh the positives, as given we are in a materialistic and greedy/ capitalistic society, the most money and energy will be spent on developing VR with profit in mind, and therefore focusing on the gaming side, which will further remove society from the real world, and move our more conscious energy into a simulation of experience through technology.
These feelings against VR, have been the reasons I had never tried it before personally, however when the opportunity arose through uni to go for free, I figured I would try and see for myself.
I found the experience quite unsettling being in a digital simulation so immersively, while still being inside a physical box (which I kept hitting or walking into by accident). I did not really enjoy any of the games that we played that much, and I was quickly bored by the majority of the games, as they quickly felt like I was just repeatedly doing a physical motion, for my vr character to simulate doing something in the game (such as running or shooting) and when gaming feels merely like a physical motion for a digital reaction (for points or to ‘win’) I start losing interest and feeling like the game is playing me more than im playing a game, as the game has kept me there doing what it says, for the reward of a digital number/ point or win.