Research Proposal: Fiction and Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) has been a topic in fiction for quite some time; popular examples include The Matrix and more recently, Ready Player One. Personally, I’ve been much more intrigued with how I’ve seen VR portrayed in fiction than with the technology we have at hand right now. Therefore, I’d like to focus my research on how works of fiction have inspired and are influencing virtual reality technology. By the end of this project, I’d like to have a better understanding of VR: its past, present, and future - in fiction and reality. Some questions I’d like to answer by the end of this project are:

· How has fiction inspired VR in the past?

· How does fiction continue to influence VR today?

· What is the current limit of VR technology?

· How are people pushing this limit?

· Which examples of fictional VR technology are feasible? Which are not?

To my knowledge, VR technology today typically consists of a headset, with audio and visual inputs, and possibly handheld remotes. It is also limited by wires in some cases. The headset allows the user to see and hear what is going on in whatever virtual world they’re “in”. Depending on the setup, the remotes allow the user to interact with the virtual environment. I have actually had very little personal experience with VR. This past summer, I participated in a VR art installation called The Chalkroom by Laurie Anderson at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. It was a very cool experience, though admittedly it was not very immersive; other museum-goers were allowed to come into the physical room where the experience took place, and the headset fit very poorly. I think with improvement, adjustment, and fewer distractions, it would have been a much more immersive and pleasant affair.

On another note, I was personally partially inspired to become a Computer Science major by what I found to be a very compelling portrayal of VR. Years ago, I watched an anime called Sword Art Online, which had been adapted from a manga (Japanese graphic novel) written by Reki Kawahara. It focuses on protagonist Kirito, a player in a new VR game that uses the latest technology. Their setup consists of only a helmet, which provides visual and audio input the same way our VR tech does, but it also uses neurotransmitters to inhibit movement and simulate physical stimuli. The user must lay down during use, as the helmet inhibits movement by triggering the same part of the brain as during sleep. This mixture of technology and neuroscience was very compelling to me, and I’d still love to be involved in working towards the creation of something similar.

More recently, I watched Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, a movie adaptation of a 2011 novel by the same name. In the movie, the protagonists are struggling for control of a VR world after the death of its creator, so VR technology is heavily featured. Some things we are familiar with, like the headgear. The handheld remotes, however, have turned into gloves, and some technology that is uncommon today is more widespread in this world, like omnidirectional treadmills. These are used for walking while in-game, as the user wouldn’t want to also walk in the real world, where they can’t see their surroundings. Bodysuits that allow the user to feel physical sensation happening in-game are another commodity seen in the movie that we do not yet have. I think this version of VR feels much closer than that presented by Sword Art Online, but it’s still impossible to tell if this is the direction that the technology will go.

I feel that this topic is interesting because I cannot wait to see where VR goes in the future, and whether or not it will line up with the vision presented to us by works of fiction. Sword Art Online is the most compelling example to me, personally, but seems very much out of reach at the moment. Spielberg’s Ready Player One, feels much closer, but we cannot know for certain if the technology will actually move in that direction. As I am so excited to see where VR goes, it only makes sense for me to look at what people are doing with the technology today, and how people are looking to improve it. I’m also curious to see what other applications the technology could have, for example in the medical field. In my preliminary research, I read that VR was first inspired by fiction, and I’m eager to look into the beginnings of the technology and find out if that is true. As a Computer Science major but also avid consumer of fiction, I very much look forward to finding out more about the overlap of VR and works of fiction.

In order to complete this project, I plan on conducting mostly internet research, along with reading, watching, and learning about works of fiction that feature VR technology. Specifically, I’d like to research if and how fiction inspired the start of VR, where VR technology is today, where it’s going, how fiction is influencing where it’s going, and if the ideas about VR shown in fiction are feasible. I believe I can find most of this information online. I’d also like to read or watch firsthand some fictional works that feature or include VR. If I can, I’d also like to read analyses of those works. Overall, my research will be mostly observational and internet-based.

In the end, this project should cover the history of VR, the current limits, and how people are pushing these limits, as well as discussing how fiction has inspired and is influencing the technology, and if fictional portrayals of VR are possible or not. So far, my experience with VR has been limited, so I’m looking forward to engaging with it more through this project. I’d like to look at some specific examples of VR in fiction, like Sword Art Online and Ready Player One, among others. The nature of this topic, as VR is fairly new technology, means most of my research will be either online, or observational. I’m very excited to see what the project will reveal and what I will learn in the process.

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