“To Infinity and Beyond!” VR Observation for Narrative Plot

Based on your observations, reflect on how well one of the preloaded VR experiences used a narrative plot to bring the user through the experience. Note: you are not expected to play through or advance through many levels of some of these VR experiences. Often, you will be able to determine the narrative plot of an experience within 5-10 minutes. Stay in the VR experience as long as you feel comfortable.

In your initial post: State the VR experience name, your estimate of how long you spent in the experience in minutes, and then outline as much as you can of these six plot points, as best as you are able to determine:

1. Introduction - What do you think this experience is about? What were your expectations before the experience actually started, up to and including any menu screen?

2. Set the scene - When you first started the experience (the first 30-60 seconds of the experience), were you able to determine what your role was in the story about to start? Were there clues that helped you understand your role, like tools available or details of your surroundings? What about the atmosphere or tone of the experience--did that inform you of where you were and what was about to happen?

3. Dilemma - Is there a dilemma in this story? What is wrong in this virtual world, that you may be here to fix? How did you learn what was the main task placed before you in the experience? Did you ever figure out the dilemma? Did you solve or complete one level of the dilemma?

4. Crisis - How did you interact with the challenge or problem? Does something “happen” to force you to deal directly with the dilemma? This is the center role of the user in the VR experience---what do you (as the user) have to do, if anything, about the problem in front of you?

5. Change - How did your actions change you? Did you experience delight? Sadness? Did you learn something new? How were you changed?

6. Resolution - Is the world of the Resolution different than the world as you first encountered it, with its Dilemma? What was the end result of having the VR experience? Remember that resolution can happen OUTSIDE of the VR experience. Examples of that include things like emergency services’ training where the user can now put their virtual training into a real life application. If the VR experience was designed with a specific goal in mind, such as a training VR experience, then that goal should be accomplished by the time the VR experience resolves. Can you determine if there is an end goal to the VR experience?