Ep. 12: Why Are You Afraid of Virtual Reality? (Violence & Video Games Part 3)

The next frontier of video game development is the virtual one, and research about the impact of violence in Virtual Realiy (VR) has started to gear up (if Dr. Chris Ferguson of Episode 10 is any indication). This week JD continues the conversation about violence in video games by chatting about violence and VR with Gijs Molsbergen, a virtual reality gamer with experience developing an award winning VR experience. Gijs is a VR advocate, and has been awed and inspired by the experience and potential of virtual reality for quite a while. 

But loving something also means acknowledging how powerful it can be, and Gijs admits there could be some unintended negative effects of VR if developers and VR advocates don’t take their role as VR ambassadors seriously.

While Gijs thinks violence in VR is extremely unlikely to cause acts of violence in real life, there is the potential for virtual reality to be traumatic for folks who aren’t fully prepared for just how real VR can feel. Gijs has some suggestions to help make the mental transition from physical to virtual a good one, from physical grounding techniques and proper mental preparation, to thinking ahead about designing experiences that mitigate the effects of harassment in virtual spaces.

The episode culminates with Gijs talking about his work with the National Video Game Museum in the Netherlands (opening October 2017), which will include a Virtual Reality exhibit and game research lab. Gaming Broad(ly) field trip to the Netherlands, anyone?

This episode is part three in Gaming Broad(ly)'s series on violence and video games. For the full conversation, start with “Episode 10: Moral Combat—Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong” with researchers Chris Ferguson and Patrick Markey on the (lack of) data about video games causing real life acts of violence, followed by “Episode 11: Why Are You So Angry?”, with Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, to learn more about why folks get so, well, aggressive about making sure games stay violent.

Gijs Molsbergen is a Virtual Reality gamer and content marketing consultant in the Netherlands, with experience developing an award winning VR experience.

Stuff we mentioned...
Lab4242
SpaceLAB (Category Management VR App for retailers) by Lab4242
VTime
PaintLab by Lab4242
“Making virtual reality matter” TEDxYouth Talk by Gijs Molsbergen
Man’s reaction to rollercoaster VR prank
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (example of a VR horror game)

JD (The Broad)
Website: GamingBroadly.com
Twitter: @JayDeeCepticon
Instagram: @JayDeeCepticon

Gijs Molsbergern (The Cast)
Twitter: @Gijs_Molsbergen
Work: OrangeValley.nl
Website: GijsMolsbergen.nl
Email: [email protected]

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