The potential for VR technology is often underestimated. It is evident a lot can be achieved with this technology, assuming the right experiences are created. Making consumers feel genuine emotions in VR has been rather challenging so far. Thankfully, it seems things are changing for the better in this regard.
Enriching Emotions in Virtual Reality
There are some experts who consider VR to be an empathy machine. While that may be true on paper, it is not the case in reality. Very few experiences or games get people emotional in any way with frustration still being one of the predominant feelings in this day and age. It is not easy to turn that situation around, but there is some progress to speak
During the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, special attention was paid to VR. This is not a new trend by any means, but it is still positive to see. A fair few experiences stand out in this regard, as they are seemingly capable of making people feel some emotion. It is not something many developers can achieve, yet a handful of proper experiences all have something in common in this regard.
By properly wielding VR, emotions can become a real thing in this virtual immersive world. Ranging from helplessness to heartbreak and heroism, they were all present during the Tribeca Film Festival. It is good to see less of a focus on action and special effects, but rather on the things that actually matter. Emotions are often overlooked in the entertainment industry, for some unknown reason.
Even though these experiences are all positive and powerful, they also represent a minority of the VR content available today. Making people care about virtual reality will require a very different mindset altogether. Creations like these can pave the way for becoming an empathy medium, but there’s still plenty of work to be done before that becomes a reality.
Hader image courtesy of Shutterstock
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