Day Three - Virtuality Reality

 

    Welcome!

     Today I'm going to go on a small spiel regarding virtual reality (VR) and how the medium is influencing me as a writer. I grew up with video games. I love them. There it is. Growing up in the 90's I saw the invention of the internet, the evolution of personal computers, cell phones, and a whole assortment of technological advances. It seems as if the possibilities are endless in creative spaces these days and it has both helped and hindered.

    For my book Inkwell, I put strict limits on myself when I set the time period from the 1920's to the 1960's. Man hadn't even landed on the moon yet, but there were inventions such as answering machiens and wiretaps, so I had to do a fair bit of research. I've found that technology these days is so obscure that a lot of writers are using it to their advantage, explaining away overly intricate science or engineering with the wave of a hand a few clever words. That's fine. I don't always need to know the ins and outs of something in order to use it. There does come a time when something can be poorly written and you realize that it's using you. (Taking advantage of the fact that you don't know something to easily explain it away. Hitchcock referred to these as "refridgerator moments", something you would consider in the middle of the night while going to get a snack.) You see this mostly in movies these days where someone is typing rapidly on a computer stealing people's information, unlocking doors for the would-be-hero, or preventing some missile from launching with their quick keystrokes. Poorly done, it comes off as deus machina at best. 

    Where does VR fit into all this? Well, growing up with video games I had a more open minded approach to the art form (yes, video games are art). Video games allow us to experience and feel things that hit different because we embody the main character when we pick up the controller, mouse/keyboard, or now motion controllers. Placing a person into a first person setting like that allows for a whole new way to convey the same old thing. Writers write for a number of reasons, but there's always a purpose, and when one art form elevates itself, I believe other mediums benefit. 

    I've been enjoying Resident Evil: Village on my PSVR2. For those who don't know about the game, it's a first person horror game where you explore a village that is overrun by monsters and you need to find your daughter. Simple premise, not entirely unique. Hearing a monster that's hunting you down growl behind you is something else entirely when you physically have to move to see it. Horror movies pioneered the jump scare, the tense music, the drawn out scene right before the big attack... but now we have games where players control the camera. That same moment could be entirely missed if the player is looking at the ground or off into space. Developers now need to engage players in new ways, figure out how to get the same desired reaction and give the same experience. As developers have to elevate their products, so too must writers in other mediums. If I'm a horror writer who writes novels, how can I work on my craft to get the same dread and tension that a virtual space will bring? How can I describe to readers something so vivid they'll "see" the same thing they would if they donned a VR headset?

    Most writers recommend the obvious: Great writers are also avid readers. I'd take it a step further: In a day and age when so many mediums are blurring lines and working hand in hand, I believe it's worthwhile to explore other art forms with an open mind. Plus, it's a lot of fun. Like, a lot. See you out there.

                    -Denis Baldwin