From the beginning, I’ve loved VR. As a gamer, I was beyond excited about the not-so-distant future where I could be running around in Silvermoon City (the home of the Blood Elves in World of Warcraft). But I couldn’t shake the feeling that VR was destined for something bigger.
That’s when I began feverishly researching VR and its possible uses. I found that the technology was already used by the military for training purposes. VR also held heavy implications in health care with the potential to be used to treat phobias. As fascinating as all of this was, it didn’t seem to directly effect me and my world.
It wasn’t until I discovered the work of Rose Troche that everything finally clicked.
Rose Troche is a filmmaker who recently decided to use her ability to create hard-hitting films that leave you questioning right and wrong into creating unique, first person experiences. Thus far, she has created two of these experiences. The first depicts a sexual assault and the second depicts an instance of police brutality. Each of these short films allows you to be a direct part of the action from the perspectives of each of the individuals involved.
These stories each convey a powerful message. As current college student, the sexual assault story was especially hard-hitting. Though I have not seen the video in virtual reality (the only way to do that as of right now is to attend Sundance), I was able to see some screenshots from it here. The video is broken up into two 5 minute long segments, o
ne from the perspective of the woman, and the other from the perspective of the man. Troche depicts a typical party scene where each individual has too much to drink. The woman ends up passing out in the man’s room and him and his friend each decide to take turns having sex with her.
Though this is a fictional story, it is unfortunately not uncommon to hear about it happening on college campuses. With the creation of this first person, VR experience, Troche hopes to draw attention to the problem of rape on college campuses.
I have high hopes for what immersive experiences like these can accomplish. Many colleges already have programs in place where they spend a significant amount of time discussing sexual assault, rape, and consent on their campus. However, imagine how much more powerful these talks would be if people actually got to experience what they were listening to people speak about.
Speeches and accounts can be powerful and informative. But nothing would be as powerful as experiencing the issue first hand. Projects like Troche’s could provide college campuses a safe way to educate their students more deeply about tough and important topics.
Welcome to (virtual) reality 
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