Henry the hedgehog. Presence in VR.
I first read about the presence in VR in a book called “Future Presence: how virtual reality is changing human connection, intimacy, and the limits of ordinary life”, written by Peter Rubin, where the term is explained in an accessible way. When one’s virtual experience is perceived as a real experience, and one is responding accordingly, that is the presence1.
The meaning of presence in VR was further developed and explained to me during the recent lectures, also understood deeper thanks to additional readings.
Presence, or Telepresence, is often defined as a subjective feeling of being in a different place (even though one using a VR HMD knows where he or she is, and it is going to experience something in a virtual environment).
The major concept of Presence lists Physical Presence with Place Illusion and Plausibility Illusion, and Social presence, which is defined as the feeling of sharing the space with others, that acknowledge you.
An example of physical and social presence in VR is Henry, an Award-winning (an Emmy for Outstanding Original Interactive Program2) VR film made by Oculus. I have read about this project in the “Future Presence (…)” book mentioned above, and now, thanks to having the Oculus Quest 2 HMD, I was able to experience it myself.
Henry is a cute looking hedgehog, with huge eyes, little feet and obviously spikes. We meet him in his house and immediately feel like we are inside a top-level animated movie. The difference is that we are not just a viewer, we are a participant of this single-plus-one person birthday party that Henry throws for himself. I do not want to tell the whole story here as it is worth to experience it without knowing what is about to happen. It, however, doesn’t mean that Henry can be visited one time only. It evoked real emotions and made me feel present every time I played it.
It made me laugh, it made me sad and even willing to hug the hedgehog. I felt connected through the place illusion, the eye-contact with Henry and the intimacy of the events happening there. Presence, along with immersion made this project successful.
1.Rubin, P. (2020) FUTURE PRESENCE: how virtual reality is changing human connection, intimacy, and the limits of ordinary life. New York: HarperOne.
2. Oculus VR (2016) Oculus Film Short “Henry” Wins an Emmy!, www.oculus.com. Available at: https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-film-short-henry-wins-an-emmy/ [Accessed: 14 March 2021].