Social VR and The 2016 Presidential Debate
Anyone who has kept up with VR developments this year has heard the expression ‘2016 is the year of VR’ since it’s the year that many headsets are being released to the public: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear and soon Playstation VR. While gamers are awaiting the release of titles like Fallout 4 and Resident Evil for VR, social anthropologists and investors are waiting to see if new communication methods in virtual reality are a viable tool to proliferate cultural or social change. With this in mind, I declare my intent to document the latest developments in social media platforms in virtual reality and sharing my experiences as a participant.
As of now, AltspaceVR is the largest social platform available in virtual reality and, rather than constructing a virtual space and sitting on their thumbs while the tide of new users washes up on their shores, they’ve been holding exclusive events to win media coverage and attract new users. The first that caught my attention was a standup set by musician, comic and TED alumni Reggie Watts (223K Twitter followers) in which members could crowd the performer as he did a comedy routine in an intimate, if virtual, setting. The next celebrity avatar to visit was Today Show host Al Roker (666K Twitter followers) who came for the unveiling of Democracy Plaza, thus forging a partnership between AltspaceVR and NBC News.
And why now, you might ask, would a burgeoning social platform desire this relationship between itself and the news outlet? Answer: If you look into the eyes of your fellow avatars in AltspaceVR, you will not yet encounter the wide range of expressions and microexpressions that accompany face-to-face dialogue in the material world. The designers of AltspaceVR could almost certainly move farther towards realism but have chosen to implement a number of robot avatars alongside a few variations on two human forms (one male, one female) until they can safely cross that uncanny valley. This is a severe disadvantage in an era when the right to self-expression is paramount, as seen in browser-based social media platforms, so the limited virtual platform must convert their users to attendees (and vice-versa) by making themselves an event space. It will be a place where the content creator reverts to consumer and real-time commentator during a one-time-only event. Therefore, the particular event for which Democracy Plaza was constructed and the NBC partnership was formed is: The First Presidential Debate of the 2016 US Elections. Remember, 2016 isn’t just the Year of VR, it’s an election year.
This is where I come in. A presidential debate in VR is a perfect marriage between what I feel most optimistic about and what I feel most pessimistic about. Until hearing of the AltspaceVR debate broadcast, I had no intention of watching it since I’d long ago decided which of the candidates was least unlikable. But experiencing it in VR made it somehow digestible, a way to give the gravity of the national decision its due diligence. A few days ahead of the political event, I signed up for an AltspaceVR account, chose the robot avatar to best represent me and stumbled my way through the control scheme in preparation for the event.
As an American living in Istanbul, waking up at 3:30am to watch the debate added a layer of quietude, confining me within the virtual debate experience. I logged into AltspaceVR a half hour early to ensure there was room for me on their server and I discovered there were a few debate-related events preceding it, including a political quiz night, a political jukebox and a pre-debate meditation. Still groggy, I chose the latter and was transported to a wooden house on a Thai-reminiscent shoreline decorated with multiple paintings of The Great Wave of Kanagawa. Here, I wondered the halls until a woman’s voice called upon me to relax, fill imaginary orbs with gratitude and toss them into a lake, thereby showing me that there’s still a place for imagination in VR. We were instructed to stretch while being mindful of our equipment and to let the polarizing energies of the debate flow through us. At the end, someone asked if there would be a post-debate meditation and she laughed, saying, “There should be.”
The moment came and I transported myself to the debate’s event space, which was modeled after the Rockefeller Center in NYC, lined with American flags and bordered by skyscrapers in red, white and blue floodlights. The mix of robot and human avatars around me spread in all directions in search of the viewing area and reconvened at a screen beside the ice rink where the event was being projected. Our host avatar, Steve, welcomed us, informing the crowd that Democracy Plaza was to be a feature of AltspaceVR only every four years and this year they would broadcast all of the three debates, plus one for the veeps. For 90 minutes, the audience remained mostly quiet since the audio of the debate was quite low and easily drowned out by small talk from the guests. One robot started a “Fuck Hillary” chant, another made bubbling noises sounding uncannily like bong hits while someone else reminded us that “Harambe was just a gorilla”, but these people are easily and satisfyingly found and muted. The biggest point of debate among the audience was in response to Trump’s claim that the airports in Dubai and Doha are better than La Guardia [Trump:1, Altspacers:0]. Mostly, our necks were arched towards the virtual screen; only occasionally we glanced around to see if indeed we were all seeing the same thing.
Once the tension of the contest subsided, there were still post-debate events to attend, though not meditation. The in-house avatar Steve reappeared to ask the remaining audience their opinion of the debate and the VR experience; whatever few hostile elements there were had vanished since the participants were well mannered and generous with their answers. Of the 20 or so avatars in the Plaza, there weren’t any Trump supporters to be found, but those who did speak claimed he exceeded their expectations. One didn’t get the sense of the ‘bloodbath’ to be found in mainstream analysis. Afterwards we headed for an after party on the Rockefeller Center ice rink, where people chatted (some about politics, others about pets) while walking around with blue (Democrat), red (Republican) or green (Green) glowsticks representing their party affiliation.
Thoughts: Despite the audio bugs and the very few detractors, the debate in VR left a positive impression on me due the strengths of the event planners involved. This was treated as more than a simple livestream, but an event of social relevance that has emotionally sparked a population, causing many to reassess themselves and their fellow citizens. The mindset they tried to establish beforehand was curated for individual needs (whether amusement or bliss seeking) and the users responded to these efforts in earnest. When the yoga instructor told us to stretch, a string of Vive controllers could be seen floating towards the sky; they weren’t just observing, they were doing it. Likewise, we had a platform for discussing our feelings and impressions once the debate was finished, helping us process the weight of these events in the healthiest possible way. And those who would rather just play and have fun could do so, taking pleasure in a virtual community that, in many ways, is more civil than that of national politics.
As for the debate, it can be summed up in a short exchange I overheard during the after party.
A: So, who do you think won the debate?
B: Canada. Because that’s where we’re all moving to.
