VR & Empathy

 I agree with Chris Milk's idea that VR is the ultimate empathy machine. I think that there are some lived experiences that photographs or videos alone have a hard time conveying, primarily because they live "inside the frame", as Milk described. VR puts the viewer "through" the frame and directly into the environment/setting, making the experience more immersive and emotional. Experiencing stories through VR allows people to "live" someone else's life on a deeper level. By tapping further into the viewer's empathetic capabilities, VR storytellers can create a profound connection and understanding between the viewer and the subject.

Becoming Homeless: A Human Experience from the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab highlights Milk's idea that VR can be an empathy machine. The game itself shows the step-by-step circumstances that caused you, the player, to become homeless: layoffs, eviction, living in your car, run-ins with the police, etc. I thought this VR experience was impactful because it challenged the stereotypes around homelessness and emphasized the humanity around this issue; the game itself created feelings of frustration, anger, and stress for players, which made players further empathize with real people who have lived through this experience.