Abstract
The proliferation of virtual reality (VR) video games has revolutionised the gaming industry and is expected to have at least 20% growth in the next couple of years. The success of VR games urged different game developer to focus on the development of VR technology and thus lead to a rapid advancement of the technology. While the technology of VR is being improved and become widely distributed, it is high time to look at how the players would be affected by immersing in VR games. The essay argues that VR games affect not only the body but also the mind of players, lead to a rise in new ethical issues that requires an alternative way to look VR video games, and eventually affect the relationship between players and the reality. This essay will investigate the psychological and physical impacts from long term immersion of VR games, then the essay will discuss how such impacts change the perception of players’ themselves and the real world that leads to a series of ethical issues. This essay will concluded by say that no form of media are entirely free of agenda, neither is VR which seemingly blurred the sense of human being and create an illusion of utopia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The codename “Project Morpheus” was later renamed to “PlayStation VR” in 2015. Such change indicates the shift in how the developer perceived VR technology: Morpheus is a name derived from the Greek myth and represent a god who controls sleep and dreams. By replacing dreams with reality, PlayStation seemed to assure the players that they are experiencing an alternative reality instead of a false one.
- 2.
PlayStation VR, Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, and Samsung Gear VR are examples of head-mounted display.
References
3delement.com. Lee Vermeulen » VR and Steam days (2014). http://www.3delement.com/?p=332
Adams, D., Bah, A., Barwulor, C., Musaby, N., Pitkin, K., Redmiles, E.M.: Ethics emerging: the story of privacy and security perceptions in virtual reality. In: Fourteenth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2018). USENIX Association (2018)
Anderson, C., Bushman, B.: Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: a meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychol. Sci. 12, 353–359 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00366
Asch, S.: Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment. In: Guetzkow, H. (ed.) Groups, Leadership and Men: Research in Human Relations, pp. 177–190. Carnegie Press, Oxford (1951)
Baudrillard, J.: Selected Writings. Stanford University Press, Stanford (1988)
Bolter, J., Grusin, R.: Remediation. MIT Press, Cambridge (2003)
Baofu, P.: The Future of Post-human Mass Media, p. 11. Cambridge Scholars Pub., Newcastle Upon Tyne (2009)
Ellis, S.: Nature and origins of virtual environments: a bibliographical essay. Comput. Syst. Eng. 2(4), 321–347 (1991). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii095605219190001L
Englund, C., Olofsson, A., Price, L.: Teaching with technology in higher education: understanding conceptual change and development in practice. High. Educ. Res. Dev. 36(1), 73–87 (2016)
Erik, K.: Sony’s ‘Project Morpheus’ VR headset and the uncertain future of virtual reality (2014). https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2014/03/19/sonys-project-morpheus-vr-headset-and-the-uncertain-future-of-virtual-reality/#6804a65436cb
Frith, C., Frith, U.: Social cognition in humans. Curr. Biol. 17(16), R724–R732 (2007)
Gallagher, A., et al.: Virtual reality simulation for the operating room. Ann. Surg. 241(2), 364–372 (2005)
Gee, J.: What Video Games have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Palgrave Macmillan (2003)
Gigante M.A.: Virtual reality: definitions, history and applications. Virtual Real. Syst. 3–14 (1993)
Haney, C., Banks, W., Zimbardo, P.: Study of prisoners and guards in a simulated prison. Nav. Res. Rev. 9, 1–17 (1973)
Jerdan, S., Grindle, M., van Woerden, H., Kamel Boulos, M.: Head-mounted virtual reality and mental health: critical review of current research. JMIR Serious Games 6(3), e14 (2018)
Jones, R., Hafner, C.: Understanding Digital Literacies. Routledge, London [i.e. Abingdon, Oxon] (2012)
Kade, D.: Ethics of virtual reality applications in computer game production. Philosophies 1(1), 73–86 (2015)
Madary, M., Metzinger, T.: Recommendations for good scientific practice and the consumers of VR-technology. Front. Robot. AI 3 (2016). https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2016.00003/full
McLuhan, M.: Understanding Media; The Extension of Man. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York (1965)
Melanie Hempe, M., Doan: Gamer Rage & Child Abuse: A Growing Problem Deserving Our Attention | Moving to Learn. Movingtolearn.ca. http://movingtolearn.ca/2013/gamer-rage-child-abuse-a-growing-problem-deserving-our-attention
Metzinger, T.: Being No One. The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity. MIT Press, Cambridge (2003)
Metzinger, T.: The myth of cognitive agency: subpersonal thinking as a cyclically recurring loss of mental autonomy. Front. Psychol. 4 (2013)
Milgram, S.: Obedience to Authority. An Experimental View. Tavistock, London (1974)
msnbc.com: Police: Baby killed with video game controller (2008). http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24026486/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/police-baby-killed-video-game-controller/#.XKvUrLaVbdf
Nina, G.: Father killed three-month-old daughter when her crying interrupted his video game. Mail Online (2012). https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096010/Father-killed-month-old-daughter-crying-interrupted-video-game.html
Oculus: I feel like I’m in VR when I’m not (2017). https://forums.oculusvr.com/community/discussion/53287/i-feel-like-im-in-vr-when-im-not
PlayStation.Blog: PlayStation VR: The Next Wave of Games Coming in Spring and Summer 2019 (2019). https://blog.us.playstation.com/2019/03/25/playstation-vr-the-next-wave-of-games-coming-in-spring-and-summer-2019/
Researchandmarkets.com: Virtual Reality Gaming Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2018–2023 (2018). https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/gz85x5/global_virtual?w=5
Roettl, J., Terlutter, R.: The same video game in 2D, 3D or virtual reality – how does technology impact game evaluation and brand placements?. PLOS One 13(7), e0200724 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200724
Tiltbrush.com: Tilt Brush by Google (2016). https://www.tiltbrush.com
Tiffin, J., Nobuyoshi T.: Paradigm for the third millennium. Hyperreality 1 (2005)
Van Schneider, T.: The Post Virtual Reality Sadness. Medium (2005). https://medium.com/desk-of-van-schneider/the-post-virtual-reality-sadness-fb4a1ccacae4
Wilson, G., McGill, M.: Violent video games in virtual reality : re-evaluating the impact and rating of interactive experiences. In: CHI PLAY ‘18 Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, pp. 535–548. ACM, New York (2018)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Liu, S. (2023). The False Utopia of VR Gaming: The Mind and Body Under VR Video Games. In: Marcus, A., Rosenzweig, E., Soares, M.M. (eds) Design, User Experience, and Usability. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14032. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35702-2_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35702-2_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-35701-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-35702-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)