Semester: Y4S1 (National University of Singapore) | Project type: Pairwork
Software used: Photoshop, Illustrator, Rhinoceros, SketchUp, Unity, Indesign
21st CENTURY technological advancements have metaphorically shrunken the world and allowed for global transpatiality. The introduction of virtual reality (VR) has intensified this phenomenon, augmenting two-dimensional social media platforms and providing an alternative to physical gathering spaces. Through the process of research, experimentation and observations, #ALTLIFE seeks to answer two major questions: the extent to which virtual and non-virtual realms feed into each other; and how the design of virtual spaces can be optimized to facilitate gatherings undertaken by existing communities. In order to ensure the success of our experimentation, we chose make a huge existing community our target group - the fan base of K-pop boyband BTS, commonly known as BTS ARMY. VRChat (VRC), a free-to-play massively multiplayer online virtual reality social platform built on user-generated ‘worlds’, was used as our medium.
Phase 1 (Virtual Logs) was a pictorial documentation of VRC users over the course of 1 month, informing Phase 2 (Permutations), our creation of BTUniverse, a ‘world’ where calculated modifications were made over the course of 2 months to better understand the relationship between virtual design elements and user behavior. Phase 3 (VR Guidebook) was the final creation of a design ‘guidebook’ to aid designers in the creation of virtual alternative spaces.
BTUNIVERSE
Based on logs of our adventures in VRChat, we launched 4 permutations of our self-created world, BTUniverse, onto the multi-player virtual platform. The designs of the permutations were based on existing symbols of the BTS ARMY, including the BT21 characters and ARMY logo. After hosting 153 users in our world, we documented and diagrammatically analysed their activities and individual idiosyncrasies. We then compiled our findings into a VRGuidebook, intended to aid aspiring designers of virtual alternative spaces in designing optimal spaces for user activity. Factors influencing user activity include, albeit not limited to, ‘Degree of enclosure’, ‘Proxemics’, ‘Idiosyncrasies’, ‘Static/Dynamic gimmicks’, and ‘Respawn point and [their accompanying] isovist viewshed(s)’.