In this series of blog posts, we will take you through the creative process behind Kinesics. This artistic research project explores the future role of body language in Virtual Reality. This is the second post in a series of ten.
When it became clear that we really wanted to research the role of body language in virtual reality, we decided to write down our thoughts in a document that properly describes the why and how. This piece of text became sort of our ‘manifesto’, and would serve as the backbone for the funding application we would write, and eventually get.
When we think about communication, we think about language - we talk and write to make our intentions heard. Yet, a big part of our daily communication relies not only on verbal, but also on non-verbal communication. We talk with our body: we point and wave, we nod and shake our head, we hang our head and square our shoulders. We take this for granted to such an extent that we sometimes forget how much of our daily communication is done with our bodies. This also influences technological developments.
In video games, non-verbal communication seem (seemed) unused and overlooked. But, the reason in itself is technical in nature. Before virtual reality, we didn’t inhabit the virtual world with our physical body, so non-verbal communication was not considered or possible. Therefore, in most online multiplayer games communication between players was verbal, and reliant on text and voice chat via headsets.
VR changes this! It has the potential for non-verbal communication in games to become accessible and, perhaps, even mainstream. Current VR technology allows us to take our body into the virtual world and communicate with it. A simple combination of headset and ‘move’ controllers, that mimic arm movements, opens up a totally new playing field for non-verbal communication.
VR creates new affordances that allow our body to be used as a communication tool. By affordances we mean the opportunities and chances for interaction that have been created for a user.
More specifically, VR creates an opportunity for users to feel “embodied” in a virtual body. Embodiment aspects of VR let you behave much more naturally and experience the world more personally. The fact that there is no longer a barrier between your movements and their output, means that small, involuntary, and unconscious actions become visible. It is these mannerisms that make body language an indispensable communication tool in daily life, and thus a valuable creative field to research.
In our next post we’ll talk about our first conceptual ideas. This research was a collaboration with ImproVive and funded by Creative Industries NL.