Virtual Reality Narratives: Embodied Encounters in Space

This monograph delves into recent evolutions in virtual reality (VR) storytelling, focusing on entertainment-based works created or launched since 2020. Through various case studies, it showcases the increasing diversity and sophistication of recent narrative-based projects. Moving past the initial hype associated with the latest wave of VR, a number of innovative and affective works combining documentary-based or fictional storytelling with game mechanics, live theatre and other elements, have appeared at festivals or on distribution platforms in recent years. These interdisciplinary works have much to tell us about the future of VR storytelling but have yet to receive sustained analysis. This book aims to correct that. 

Dooley argues that VR, as an interactive medium that places the user inside a storyworld in a visible or invisible virtual body, offers narratives that incorporate the user’s body as a storytelling tool. This fosters user-centred stories that unfold in three-dimensional space. Adopting phenomenological and formal analysis methodologies, the monograph examines case studies through their approaches to narrative, style, and interactive devices. Key concepts that are explored include agency, direct address, environmental and spatial storytelling, embodiment and presence. By providing a much-needed analysis of works through a variety of theoretical lenses, the book illustrates how recent VR storytelling fosters powerfully transformative experiences.

Associate Professor Kath Dooley is a writer/director and academic based at the University of South Australia. Kath is author of Cinematic Virtual Reality: A Critical Study of 21st Century Approaches and Practices (2021) and co-editor of Screenwriting for Virtual Reality: Story Space and Experience (2024). Her research interests include embodiment in the context of screen media, virtual reality and screenwriting, women’s screen industry practice, and diversity in the screen industries.