Welcome to (virtual) reality

One of my favorite games to play in the Oculus Rift is CasinoVR. This game allows you to sit at a realistic poker table and play poker and chat with other real people using the Oculus Rift. 

The avatars are detailed and very realistic. They lean and move and can even bob their heads’ to the music to mirror the player’s own actions.

However, right now, I do have one issue with the avatars: they are all male. This may seem like not a big deal, and while it doesn’t change the fact that I enjoy playing, it does alter my experience.

Looking down, I can see my male body and all of the male bodies around me. This creates a bigger disconnect in immersion than one would think. You don’t realize how much you actually see your body in your peripheral vision until you can no longer see it. When I’m playing CasinoVR and look down and see my obviously masculine hands folded on the table, or my black suit pants, I am reminded that this experience is entirely virtual.

It seems that the idea in CasinoVR is to be as immersive as possible. It even includes a voice chat feature so you can naturally converse with the people around you instead of having to feel around for you keyboard and type a message. But this immersion is easily broken by the fact that there is not a female body in the room, except for the dealer at each table. This disconnect that I feel is also translated over when I speak to the other players in my high pitched, very feminine voice and they see it coming from a gray-haired, older man.

This same idea can also be applied to race. Will this game, and others like it, contain avatars of color? I would imagine that adding this will allow more people to feel comfortable and immersed in the game.

In talking to some of the creators of CasinoVR, I have been told that they are working on creating a female avatar and that it will be available in the consumer version of the game. While this excites me and I am thrilled that a female avatar will be included, it also worries me. What exactly will this female avatar look like? Will she follow the trend of “sex sells” and be the typical, over-sexualized character?

I’m worried. And my worry isn’t caused by the actions of the creators of CasinoVR, as they have done nothing to lead me to believe that they will create an over-sexualized avatar. The worry stems from the market and what is popular in the video game industry.

Having this “too sexy” avatar would most likely alienate female players. It would subject them to more sexist and offensive comments. It’s not too hard to picture some men leaning in to get a better look at the female’s breasts and making comments to the woman behind the avatar. Creating an avatar like this may increase male interest in the game, however, it would likely close this game off to many women.

All this being said, I am still excited that CasinoVR is taking the step to add female avatar. I think that this is the first step in the right direction and I hope many VR games will follow in their footsteps.

First image credit: http://www.casino-vr.com/

Second image credit: http://game.wall404.com/ and Riot Games