VR Proposal - Your Fear Master
October 4th, 2022
Everyone has experienced different kinds of fear in their life. Some of us fear heights, and some of us fear talking in public or enclosed rooms. All of those phobias can be obstructive to our daily lives. For years, psychologists and physiologists have been trying to find the solution that solves these problems. However, recent reports have shown that pharmacological agents that are used to cure various phobias are providing inconsistent effects (Christabel, 2020). Therefore, the common therapeutic strategy that is being used is exposure therapy, where gradual, repeated exposure to the source of your specific phobia was given. There are also newer approaches like Dialectal behavior therapy (DBT) that use guided meditation to assist clients to manage their phobia.
Therefore, as a psychology major student, I decided to use 360 degrees photos/videos, Unity-created environments, and some basic C# animations, to create VR exposure therapy that helps people with phobias alleviate their fear scientifically. As a perfect tool for creating immersive experiences, VR glasses can give clients a moderate level of stimulus without letting them feel threatened. In my project, clients will be able to choose from three different kinds of phobias. After choosing the specific kind of phobia, let’s say, acrophobia, they will enter the first scene, where they will be shown a cartoon picture of a person standing on top of a building with soothing background music. After they get used to the first scene without feeling anxiety, clients will be able to proceed to the next. In the last scene of this specific track, the realistic 360 degrees videos with sounds will be shown to the client, and they are asked to move around and look around in the environment. We do not expect the client to be able to finish the journey in one day, as it really depends on how fast can our client get used to the specific stage of the exposure.
Besides that, we also combine the techniques of Dialectal behavior therapy into our system by creating a virtual 3D figure in the top left corner of the client’s vision. This figure will help the client to regulate their breath and also tell our client what they should expect from the next scene.
For the first simulatory Scene, our client, who has Glossophobia(fear to speak in public), will have a one-on-one conversation with our cute humanoid carrot. The background music will be happy and lively, and the carrot will ask the client a very easy-to-answer question about the client’s past. The room environment will be a 360 degrees picture of a warm house and the carrots will be made with unity.
At this level, more vegetables will be in the same conference room as you and you will need to make a speech in front of them. Like in the previous scene, the characters are all animated characters made by unity or blender, and the setting will be a 360-degree picture. The guide on top of the screen will use Maximo animations to make it feels more like a human conversation. Light music will be in the background to make the client less nervous.
In this setting, all the animated characters are gone and our client will finish their final challenge by doing a presentation in front of a large group crowd in an auditorium. The effect will be realized with 360 degrees videos. There will be no background music, instead, there will be background audience noise recorded in a real live presentation.
Comments
Name: Cole Comment: I really like the connection to your major and creating something that could be impactful!
Name: Pauline Comment: I really like this! It's cute, it's simple, and it has a meaningful impact for people who do struggle with this phobia and others. Can't wait to play it!
Yoki: I love your choice here of having cute and cartoonish character to help counter phobias. The storyboard itself already looks comforting and therapeutic.
Name: Shaikha Comment: i love the overall message and goal of your project, it feels very intentional and wholesome! i also really like how you've considered the methodology behind the interactions (using maximo). Im really interested to know if, since the vegetables look very cute and cartoony, will this also be the style of the scenes, or will you use more realistic objects and assets to immerse the users more?
Meera : I love that you included a cute humaniod, i feel like this is so important to the concept your working on. A lot of projects similar to this usually just push the user into the fearful enviorment. however, your approach is so gentle and calming. i love it
Aakarsh: I really like how you have chosen to deal with phobias in stages. A lot of issues with current VR therapy is that it directly place you at level 10 or never takes you past level 1. The stage approach seems very promising!
Jannah: This seems like such a cute, yet meaningful idea. I love how you chose to deal with a heavy topic, fear, but in a relaxing, "safe" kind of way. I think you could work a lot with the environment and sounds to help create the relaxing vibe you seem to be going for in this project.
Phillip: I really like the idea of helping the audience overcoming Glossophobia in a VR game, it's definitely something that could turn out to be useful for a lot of people.
Theyab : The use of cartoons in your VR project seems really nice ! It would be really nice so that people get more comfortable when facing their fears.
Rosanna: You are trying to create social impact through your work! Looking forward to it.
Jiapei: I really like the concept of practical therapeutic use of VR, it's very meaningful. The cartoon figures of the vegetables are also very cute! Looking forward to your final work!