AR Facade: Virtual Soap Opera

The people over at Georgia Tech’s research lab have created a virtual reality world that you can interact with. But rather than fighting aliens on a strange planet, you’re presented with a scenario probably a little more close to home: an argument.

When you strap on a backpack with a computer and a visual headset, you’re thrust into the middle of a marital dispute between Trip and Grace, two virtual characters projected into the real world. The married couple is embroiled in an argument and wants you to take sides. From there, you can work towards a truce, pit them against each other, or just pretend nothing bad is happening. A researcher types the words behind you for the characters to respond to. Stephen Dow, a Georgia Tech Ph.D. student explains:

“You can kind of choose your own outcome, and you can define your own way to win. In a way, it’s a theater and a stage where people can step in to become an actor in the experience.”

The idea is to study how humans and computers interact. So far the research has yielded a variety of results, from people responding with apathy, emotional distraught, and even physically trying to grab the virtual characters. The scenario can reach many different outcomes, most of which aren’t particularly heart-warming. Researchers at Georgia Tech are now working on a game they call “Four Angry Men,” which is based on the play, “Twelve Angry Men,” about a group of people on a jury deciding the fate of a young boy accused of murder.

This method of superimposing virtual reality on actual reality is being applied to a number of different projects and even games. In Australia, researchers have developed a system where people can play Quake, fighting virtual enemies on actual streets, and they’re doing the same thing with Pac-Man in Singapore.