Rift of the fourth wall in virtual reality

The term fourth wall in a theater is an imaginary wall between actors and spectators. And when the actor turned from the stage to those sitting in the hall, this is called “breaking the fourth wall”. They break it, just as to enhance the comicity of what is happening, and to bring together the events unfolding on the scene and the spectator himself. A similar technique is used in literature, cinema and other forms of art.

The methods of breaking the fourth wall in classic computer games have also been written many times ( 1 , 2 ). But with the advent of virtual reality glasses, the story with the fourth wall takes an interesting turn. Now the player is not watching the action through the screen frame of the monitor, but becomes directly present in the virtual space. Does this mean that the fourth wall in computer games no longer exists? Not necessary. And that's why.

The discussion below will focus mainly on computer games, but some aspects of this topic also apply to 360-video.

Space

In virtual reality, at the space level, the fourth wall now completely disappears - we are literally inside the virtuality, the distance between the observer and the observed disappears.
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For example, in the Lucky's Tale platformer for Oculus Rift, the player controls the fox, being present in the game world as an invisible observer and moving along the path of the game character.



The game camera is placed above the fox and makes you feel like a giant in a colorful world. At the same time, the tracking system of the Oculus Rift helmet works, tracking the movement of the user's head in space, which makes it possible to approach or move away from certain objects in the scene.
Because of this, you can bend down and get close to the game character almost closely, which is why he unexpectedly notices the player and, surprised at his size, can move backwards and stumble, funny landing on the fifth point. And the impression from this event is difficult to convey in words. At this moment, when the game character notices you and reacts to movement, the effect of being present in the scene becomes incredibly powerful, if not to say complete.
But this is a multiplayer platformer.

But the blurred spatial boundaries between the game world and the player are only “part” of the fourth wall.

Concept

There is an invisible wall between the player and his role in the game world. How did it turn out that the player influences the game character and the game world itself? Should he get used to and play the role given to him, or maybe he is in the virtual environment the same player from his real world who finds himself in a different space? Those. if, for example, we are talking about the game from the first person, does the player control the protagonist or is he the hero of the story himself?
These are conceptual questions - they relate to the game concept and the storyline.
Justification of the presence and influence of the player on the game world has already been encountered in computer games (for example, in Omikron or in The Stanley Parable). But now developers have much more opportunities to break the fourth wall in conceptual terms, removing it altogether, if, of course, this is part of their original task.
A player can either play the role of one or another character offered to him, or in the most direct sense, be in VR who he is in real life - just move to another, even if virtual space, while remaining himself, solving certain tasks like if it really hit them.

For example. Within the framework of the VR platform, a separate type of project has emerged - experiences. These are mostly small demos where there is no complicated mechanics and everything is focused on the topic of immersion in virtual reality and the unfolding of its potential through the design of the environment and its interactivity.







In many such projects, the user is just himself, he does not act out any character, but is simply “transferred” to another space, immersed in it (either as an observer who no one notices, or a participant in the unfolding events). But this natural and obvious opportunity for VR technology can be revealed much more strongly in the field of narration.

The player can not give to try on the role, but to develop the story directly with him, to justify his appearance in the game world and to make him the main character, the unfolding actions in the game, erasing any boundaries between the virtual and the real. This young student or this manager from the real world “accidentally” finds themselves in the center of events related to the emergence of portals in parallel universes, the creation of a time machine or the usual transfer of consciousness to the robot body, and so on. Even the helmet of virtual reality and the process of its use by the player can be narratively justified within the framework of a given setting. It is this presentation at the concept level, together with the spatial aspect, that is exactly the complete fault of the fourth wall, however, this is not a completely correct definition - here we can pass through it for the first time.

It is not necessary to use such a technique in every vr-project, in many cases no wall breaks are required. Moreover, many people like to get used to and act out the roles of completely different personalities or to be observers who control game characters, and some ideas in the field of narration and gameplay can be realized only if the player influences the game world “from the outside”. Thanks to virtual reality technology, the developers just had another powerful tool for interacting with the user, and each of the authors himself would then decide how to use it in the end.