GMU:Post Physical Playgrounds/Katarina Bankovic

vr-tionship // [re]imagination of a dating-game using manipulated recordings from vr-chat

“In this environment, the visual replaces the tactile as the primary modality of sensual transcendence and release from our ever-narrowing boundaries of acceptable social conduct. The digital self becomes both performer and audience in a communal release of the Dionysian id.” [1]

The purpose of this project is to be used as a starting experiment for my upcoming thesis on the topic of desire and space. Additionally, it presents us with an experience of creating/nourishing a connection without the physical body, in a space absent from many laws and restrictions that govern our physical world.

The idea was to do a research from two different points – one being the experience of searching for a date in the ‘big’ world of vr-chat, approaching, dealing with your own shyness, creating new desires and finally getting to know somebody completely new; and the other one being the experience of taking an established connection/relationship and displacing it inside the new virtual space.

the new // vr-tionship: a dating game

vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/816281092

after-thoughts: What I realized was that for me it didn’t matter that I was in a space where I could be anything, anyone and in a way anonymous – I was still super shy! I really hated (like I do in my physical life) the idea of approaching someone and asking them on a date. It is interesting to see, however, that there were many people who didn’t really care what they were saying or doing. From a guy who was just going around and singing on top of his lungs to the guy who was saying some really awful and some really illegal stuff. The question is at the end – how much of that is it just part of their every-day personality? Do they hide it, and then feel more free to express it inside vr-chat, or are they just the same outside? How much does virtual space free us? Does it change us?

Coming back to topic of desire - despite the absence of the real human body, I did feel pulled toward certain avatars and people. It seems that just like wearing certain clothes, or sporting a different hairstyle, it does speak a lot about a person behind the chosen avatar!

Finally, during the ‘mini-game’ I went on multiple speed-dates and asked my dates about the connections they created in vr-chat. They all confirmed that they had valuable relationships inside the virtual space, or that they believe in friendships created there.

the new // process

I decided to reuse an old character that I created using Gravity Sketch during my first semester. The first step was to edit it in Blender so it is as less complex and clean for the purpose of meeting the standards for vr-chat avatars:

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In the second step I used MIXAMO for the purpose of quickly and automatically rigging the character:

Finally I used UNITY to create and upload the avatar to Vr-Chat:

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I recorded my time inside vr-chat using Xbox Game Bar (there are other possible methods) and edited the videos inside Premiere Pro:

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Considering that I want to work on a ‘dating-game’ for my thesis project I decided to manipulate the recordings from Vr-chat using Photoshop and Premiere Pro to create a kind of a ‘proposal’ for a new type of a dating game.

Photoshop was used to create an illusion of UI elements:

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Finally, I wanted to put some 8-bit background music: https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/download/a-bit-of-hope/565

Check out 8-bit girlfriend: https://www.mobygames.com/game/48082/8-bit-girlfriend/

the old // going on a date with a friend inside vr

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vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/816298545

after-thoughts: It was really awkward, however, supper fun! All the glitches, all that was not working well just entertained us even more! It’s also interesting that for us the most fascinating thing was to find places where we could do stuff we can do in physical space (like eating and playing pool), instead of trying to do things we can’t do outside virtual world.

Another point is that in vr-chat it feels more public to go on a date then in real world, and inside, many more people interacted with us and engaged in what we were doing. Usually, in physical space people try to mind their own business and are afraid to interact.

Finally, I think physical touch is definitely lacking, but beside it also smell and feeling the air and temperature. It created a certain distance between what we were doing and where we actually were – and that is together in a room!

*additional video of us bumping into each other inside a small room with vr glasses coming soon

**this project is ongoing

[1] Andreas Serafim, George Kazantzidis, and Kyriakos Demetriou, Sex and the Ancient City: Sex and Sexual Practices in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter, 2022), 44.