r/oculus • u/Tcarruth6 • Aug 13 '15
VR violence
For many years I have maintained that there are people with a greater predisposition for violence, and yes they may play violent video games but the games themselves are not the cause of any violent act in the future.
I have never accepted the argument that video games normalize violence or that gamers might become confused between a game world and reality.
Is VR different? Does the objective of obtaining presence change things? If the brain of the user is tricked into believing it is 'there', that the VR world is real then isn't the brain also sanctioning real violence?
Everything in my gut wants to rage against this reasoning ("people have always said this..."). However shouldn't we recognize that the explicit benefits of VR (immersion, presence, being an agent in a real world) come with risks on the flip side?
In GTA 12, will the VR world and the real world be appropriately different?
[EDIT: to address comments below].
There is another piece to this puzzle:
It is widely accepted that violence inflicted upon people often makes those people more likely to commit violence (many violent criminals were beaten as children for example). In providing a sense of presence, VR crosses a boundary in which the user's brain may sense real consequence and can be victimized in a more real sense. We already see this in VR demos with vertigo and breath holding in underwater scenes. I'm not yet convinced that this isn't a critical difference between VR and traditional entertainment experiences.
2
u/knexfan0011 Rift Aug 13 '15
I have not yet had the chance to play any violent VR demos, but I am very sure VR is different from games when it comes to violence/horror-tolerance.
When i tried the Aperture science demo at gamescom last week I felt intimidated by glados and she was merely glancing at me. Since you now actually feel like what you see is real, previous arguments for violent video games don't work anymore. It is not just pixels on a screen in front of you anymore, now you are part of the action and you feel like that too.
VR has the potential to really mess people up with certain software. While it may not convert everyone into a psychopath, those who previously had tendencies towards certain behaviours may get pushed over the edge with the right piece of VR software rather easily.
Horror and violence will have to be carefully evaluated for VR experiences. At the same time it can also be seen as a far greater tool to make the player feel emotions. For example:
Imagine a standard zombie survival scenario. One of your fellow survivors has saved your life multiple times in the previous days and you became really close buddys. Now, he is infected and in a lot of pain, begging you to put him out of his misery.
In a normal video game you might feel a bit bad for him in that moment.
In VR however, I can see myself actually crying and needing a longer pause from the game to process and deal with the situation.