VR and Paranoia
Google鈥檚 Daydream Labs has been exploring ways to discourage players in virtual reality (VR) games from making others feel harassed or unsafe.
Writing in a blogpost for Google Developers the company notes: 鈥淎s developers and designers, we are excited to build social experiences that are fun and easy to use – but it鈥檚 just as important to make it safe and comfortable for all involved鈥︹��
In one experiment, based on virtual poker, the developers de-saturated a virtual player鈥檚 view to black and white if they left their place at the table and also made their avatar invisible to others. This, they found, was 鈥溾�nough to prevent a player from approaching their opponents to steal chips or invade personal space.鈥�
The technology, reports the BBC News website, has also been used to help treat people with severe paranoia, with patients shown computer-generated social situations to help reduce their paranoid delusions. Commenting on the story for the BBC Professor Daniel Freeman, a Univ Special Supernumerary and clinical psychologist at Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry, said: 鈥淲ith virtual reality, we can help the person to relearn that they are safe, and when they do that, the paranoia melts away.鈥�
Published: 12 August 2016
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