VR and Empathy

 Chris Milk’s TED Talk “VR is the Ultimate Empathy Machine” was very intriguing to me. Prior to what we have explored in this class relating to VR, I really hadn’t given all the possibilities of VR too much thought. While I had known it could be used for video gaming purposes, I never realized how broad the horizon was of how the medium can be utilized. Particularly, how much of an art form, and how powerful it can be in terms of being used in an empathetic manner. I remember a few years ago hearing about Across the Line, a VR that allows the user to experience walking into a safe and legal abortion clinic with protesters tormenting you as you walk in. This concept really stuck with me (https://www.acrossthelinevr.com/). I never looked too much further into other VR that has similar, empathetic content matter until watching this TED talk.

For my bring it to the table, I looked further at the VR app The Ice Bound Compendium by Aaron Reed and Jacob Garbe.  The story follows author Kristopher Holmquist, who died of unknown causes prior to the start of the game. Following his death, his work gained popularity, leaving many wondering how his final unfinished novel Ice Bound was supposed to end. The game follows an AI version of Holmquist, as the player discovers how the novel was initially supposed to end. An AR book is used as a layer of the narrative along with the game itself. The book itself is an 80 page art book filled with Holmquist’s files, unfinished files, drafts, and research. 

https://www.ice-bound.com/#:~:text=The%20Ice%2DBound%20Compendium%20is,%2C%20and%20strange%2C%20distorted%20transmissions.