I still remember that moment. Exhausted after a whole day design class, I was immediately caught attention by a girl wearing a black goggle. She waved in the air, exclaiming and walking around. “A rainbow,” she cried. Finally, I was told that the goggle she wore named virtual reality (VR) gear. I was totally mesmerized by VR since then.

I had a chance to experience more in virtual reality Storytelling class. It was so awesome to wear the VR goggles, where I was brought to a brand new world. Generally speaking, VR is excellent at uniting an idea with an emotion, which is one of the most powerful storytelling techniques. Wearing a VR headset to experience a bombed city in Syria was confronting and thought-provoking. I can hang out on streets, physically safe yet mentally suffering. Closely approaching the rusty iron fence, I felt nausea, as if I was a curb stuck in a shabby cage. The bombed scene, moving speed and the fear of being trapped had triggered my sickness.

Some of those virtual reality scenes, however, are not so intoxicating, in terms of the storytelling techniques. Take the Gear VR for example, a dancing show was shown plainly. A lack of conflicts led to a not so good storytelling. Yes, it was fine to watch a spectacular with a Gear VR. It would definitely be better to add music and conflicts and to adjust the visual effects more compatible with VR goggle.

I felt physically present with most of the VR goggles. Take HTC Vive for example. I stumbled back when I raised my head, confronting a huge elephant in light blue water. I do have seen elephants before, but not so close and without protection. The size of the elephant, the distance between it and audiences and the endless light background had all contributed to my empathy. If only some wild environment sound could be added!

I got a sense of uncanniness in the fishing scene. Though it was splendid to sit beside a fishing boat pilot in a real cockpit, the whole scene was made like a documentary. The narrative tone made it ordinary.

Basically, I felt amazing to use VR goggles. Many of them were engaging and compelling, giving me a fake feeling that I was there. But I can still tell that this is not sure because I cannot really touch the characters or smell the salty ocean. My classmates were also very thrilled. An interesting thing was that a girl felt sick confronting the elephant, though most of us not. Such experience inspires me to think that VR videos should also be classified, based not only on content but also on the way of visual delivery.

It was pretty immersing to use VR goggles. The higher screen resolution and the better quality of 3D graphics, the more engaging a VR video could be. 3D sound that moved with my head, like a Hololens, was also impressive. The smoothness of head tracking can greatly reduce potential nausea and make the scenes more vivid. The ability to lean forward was fun and cool. The full spherical range of vision was undoubtedly stimulating. The beauty of witnessing the Milky Way is partly because of the 360 view of the sky. That is exactly what VR can do. Additionally, wireless goggles lessened the weight of equipment and gave me more space to explore, making the scenes even more compelling and alluring.