brick by virtual brick: interpreting vr minecraft
TRANSCRIPT
NHTV University of Applied Sciences
Brick by Virtual Brick: Interpreting VR Minecraft
How VR-meaning making can be derived from immersion and
cognitive social conventions
By Tim van Leeuwerden
Abstract:
Digital storytelling has seen a new, interesting evolution within the capacities of
technological realism. Recent developments in the field of Virtual Reality (VR) technology
have boosted the experience of virtual conventions to a seemingly realistic approach in terms
of meaning-making from the visual perspective, mixed with rational activities performed in
VR. This paper theorizes the sensible behavior in VR experiences, such as Minecraft on the
Oculus Rift, as interpretations of Saussurean and Peircean semiotics. The signs and symbols
within Minecraft correlate with cognitive social conventions, performing a sense of
immersion that may kindle VR environments as potential digital narrative agencies.
Keywords: Semiotics, Immersion, Virtual Interpretation, Minecraft, Virtual Narratives
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Introduction
For a long time in research, the notion of a virtual reality environment has interested
the academic field and sparked many investigations towards the possibilities of
creating virtual experiences. Academics and researches have tried their hands in the
past on reaching wondrous possibilities illuminated on the eye through virtual
gaming (Virtual Boy, Cybermaxx, iGlasses etc.) However, most of these VR-
experiences narrated a dull emotional experience and often provided low-input
movability.
With the rise of Oculus Rift and other devices, VR-experiences are witnessing a
Renaissance. Especially in the last decade, new possibilities have risen up with the
production of affordable virtual reality projection products. Perhaps now it is time to
(re)discover the possibilities of VR in this day and age, with the possible advent of
virtual reality serving as a narrative agency through which sensible narrative
progression can be told. Ryan (2001) mentions that the most fundamental narrative
pattern is that of problem-solving. VR-experiences that arranges the user in a sensible
problem-solving activity might spark a sense of immersion as well as a sense of
familiarity with real-life objects and activities. We will see how meaning-making of
signs and symbols spark an immersive feeling when reviewing the VR-experience of
Minecraft.
Previous ventures in the realm of Virtual Reality
While Minecraft sounds like a promising as a virtual experience, it should be noted
that many bold attempts at imaginative virtual reality experiences had been tried in
the past. During the 90’s decade, game developers ventured into the world of virtual
reality, but often found that the software was too lacking in terms to the scope of
vision developers had in mind (most notably the failure of the Nintendo Virtual Boy
in 1995). Virtual reality was successful however, in other areas.
In phobia treatment for example, where the implication of virtual reality and tactile
argumentation allowed for one case subject to steadily overcome his arachnophobia
in a safe environment (Carlin et al, 1997). The case subject was gradually introduced
to spiders in the virtual process and was able to completely overcome his fears when
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in full virtual presence with the spider. In another virtual reality investigation,
hospital residents were trained with VR training to perform surgery. The results
concluded that VR-trained residents performed the surgery 29% faster after training
and are far less likely to make fatal errors during operation (Seymour et al, 2002).
Thus, research has shown that virtual experiences produce better results. One could
argue this boost in success is derivative of increased immersion. It is also argued that,
in order to reach the most effective immersive VR experience, a high level of
presence is mandatory (Hodges et al, 1995). In previous times of virtual reality
multimedia experiences, it would seem that the required level of presence within a
virtual world could not be reached. This might very well be a causal effect for the
failure of previous multimedia immersion, such as the Virtual Boy. The probable
reason why VR treatment projects such as the arachnophobia and the surgery
examples could work, was because the experience was set in a relatively small scope
with no surprising factors. Now, with the increase of (affordable) technology,
imaginative projects can be conjured to create optical illusions that mimic the feeling
of a full sense of presence in a virtual experience. VR-experiences can offer different
degrees of narrative immersion, wherein the producer has constructed imaginative
virtual worlds for the user to traverse.
One should question what ‘imaginative’ means, when talking about multimedia
virtual reality experiences. As previously said, treatment virtual reality could work
because the experiences were controlled, with low-input movability. Often, the user
could only adjust their view to 180 or 360 degrees, with no move controls.
Developers can now construct an experience that allows to be enjoyed openly with
interaction by the user, enabling meaningful narrative events and immersion.
Virtual Reality – Advocating the necessity of familiarity and openness
The best description of virtual reality for this research would be that of Krueger
(1991), who states that virtual reality “typically refers to three-dimensional realities
implemented with stereo viewing goggles and reality gloves.” Indeed, head-
mounted stereo viewing hardware such as Oculus Rift has sparked imaginative
projects and researches, such as a VR-setting of Minecraft. Thanks to the distribution
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of developer kits to prosumers and academic institutions, VR pioneers can test the
waters before the onset of commercial enjoyment. It is of utmost importance that,
when VR will become a commercial commodity, the entry-level of understanding
and interpreting a virtual world experience is relatively low. The user needs to be
able to make meaning out of what is happening and process it accordingly by using
cognitive references in the brain. Minecraft, in that sense, is an outstanding example.
Games such as Minecraft that carry an ‘emergent narrative’ (Aylett, 1999), wherein it
is up to the user to make their own sense of narrative experience, is an excellent
structure for a VR gaming experience. You are forced to explore a relative empty
world wherein you cannot do anything much except for ‘just start building’.
The experience procreates for a sense of ‘openness’ to the virtual world and how the
user chooses to interact within it. The user could walk the entire map until you reach
a beach and figure this is the end of the road. The user could go in caves and start
exploring, only to quickly find out that it is wise to leave the spiders alone. The user
can wonder off in the dark and discover that the world is more hostile at night than
at day. In Minecraft, we will see that a lot of meaning-making from the gameplay
mechanics derive from familiarity with symbols and sign interpretation. One needs
to wonder how users should make sense of what is happening around the user while
in virtual reality, and whether the interpretation of socially affiliated objects changes.
We will therefore implement the study of semiotics into the concept of virtual reality
meaning-making.
Immersion in VR
To understand this concept of virtual world interpretation, we need to delve into the
concept of immersion. Murray has an interesting notion of the concept of immersion
when placed in the context of virtual reality:
“A stirring narrative in any medium can be experienced as a virtual reality because our
brains are programmed to tune into stories with an intensity that can obliterate the world
around us. . . . The experience of being transported to an elaborately simulated place is
pleasurable in itself, regardless of the fantasy content. We refer to this experience as
immersion.” (Murray, 1997)
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According to Murray, immersion within virtual reality can be a body-transcending
experience wherein your perception is changed. Like swimming in water, your
perceptual apparatus gets changed because of the different physics and views you
are experiencing. The metaphor of swimming in water can also be used to explain
that, like learning how to swim, users take enjoyment into learning what the new
possibilities are in the virtual world you are in. This transforms virtual reality into a
participatory activity. Virtual reality might therefore rather be seen as a human
experience with interpretations and meaning making, rather than viewing it as mere
hardware. Experiencing a virtual world means your cerebral senses are a presence in
that virtual world. As Gibson (1979) argues, presence should not refer to one’s
surroundings, but to the perception of those surroundings as they are interpreted by
automatic and controlled mental processes. Steuer (1992) added to this notion his
concept of telepresence. The idea of telepresence refers to how a VR user favors the
mediated virtual environment as opposed to the immediate physical environment he
or she is in. Telepresence is the intrinsic perception of the environment that is
projected towards a user within his brain. As we will see in this research, a sense of
telepresence in the user whilst associating signs and symbols to everyday objects that
trigger familiarity can dictate the emotional responses of the user’s experiences in
virtual reality.
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Figure 1: Minecraft as played in Oculus Rift with stereo viewing goggles. In the frame we see
a Minecraft tree.
Semiotics – Start building
Before we build further upon this idea of immersion and presence, one should have a
deeper understanding of the relationship between virtual perception and semiotics.
Semiotics is the study of signs and meaning-making. It works with objects, as well as
with tokens to reference them by. It is broadly accepted that the founder of the
concept of semiotics is the French linguistic Ferdinand de Saussure. De Saussure
(1916) was the first to present the notion of ‘semiology’ and explained the idea that
our interpretation of signs is crucial to understanding the social situation that is
happening in front of one. He stated that the interpretation of a sign is an arbitrary
reaction of the mind to what is happening in front of it.
Ferdinand de Saussure (1916) formed a dyadic model of signification. He defined
that signs could be interpreted in the following two ways, as signifier and signified:
Signifier (significant) – The form which the sign takes
Signified (signifié) – The concept it represents
When regarding meaning-making within video game aesthetics, Minecraft actually
requires a low barrier of semiotic understanding. The signifier of a virtual reality
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Minecraft is a videogame that is huge in size to explore and in which objects could be
altered to create new constructions. The signified of a virtual reality Minecraft is the
concept is infinite exploration, both in the environments as well as the possibilities of
constructing objects where the only limitation if your own imagination.
In figure 1, we see a user experiencing Minecraft through the Oculus Rift. In the
frame we see a Minecraft object that looks like a tree. It actually is a tree within the
game. If we then look at Saussure’s dyadic model of signification, we can say that the
signifier is the form of the tree, and the signified, is the concept that a tree can be cut
and reconstructed to wooden objects to build other constructions. The user makes
sense of the presence that he is close to a tree and could cut it to make other
buildings, such as a house. The user can then generate not only a sense of presence by
being close to the tree in his perception, but also a sense of telepresence because the
user could construct a house with wood much easier in this virtual world, as they
will find out when they start stacking the wood on top of one another. Place many
stacks of wood in a square or a triangle and you have already constructed your first
house in Minecraft, both in the signifier sense as well as in the signified.
The triadic cycle of Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce (1935), on the other hand, emphasized that the relation
between a given token and object it represents is not just a confluent connection.
Rather, it works as a relations that depends on the situation in which the token is
interpreted. We will explain Peirce’s and Saussure’s semiosis based on virtual
Minecraft and the art of constructing and surviving.
While de Saussure was more interested in a linguistic approach to semiotics, Peirce
favored a reasoning of logic to the process of meaning-making. We will now delve
deeper into Peirce’s works and whether the situation of being in a virtual reality
telepresence alters how the given token is interpreted. To understand the relation of
virtual reality meaning-making with Peirce’s concept, we first need to construct a
basic understanding of his concept of semiosis. According to Peirce (1935), semiosis
can be described as the ‘action of signs’. He therefore made a triadic cyclic system of
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different sign interpretations wherein signs are interpreted as referring to their
objects in different perspectives (Chandler, 2002):
1. The representamen, the form of the sign
2. The interpretant, the sense that is made out of the sign according to the
interpreter
3. The object, the physical and mental concept that is socially attributed to the
sign
Figure 2: A Minecraft Axe, obtained in the first minutes of the game.
Thus, while the object in the eyes of the interpreter does not change in construct, it
can change in interpretation of the action the symbol represents. An example would
be the Axe object in Minecraft. The representamen is the form of the object, the
interpretant is the sense that is made out of the form of the axe according to the mind
of the interpreter (‘maybe I can use this axe object to cut the trees I saw earlier’), and
the object is the socially attributed construction the interpreter makes when thinking
of an axe (a wooden stick with a sharp blade on one end that can cut wood).
Icon, index and symbol – Together they construct a home
Another important component of semiosis is the relation between icon, index and
symbol. This set of three forms of signs better explains the relations of the signs and
in what context they should be interpreted, rather than making sense of the sign itself
as described in the triad above (Harrell, 2007):
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1. The icon, a sign in which the representamen holds similar qualities as the
object it represents.
2. The index, a sign in which the representamen directly connects to the object via
an either causal or physical relationship.
3. The symbol, a sign in which the relationship between the representamen and
object is attributable to arbitrary social convention.
Figure 3: A Minecraft house, constructed mainly with basic wood.
To explain with an example we will demonstrate a Minecraft house, constructed with
the Axe and wood of the previous examples. The icon is the similar qualities as the
represented object (you recognize it as a house), the index is the causal relationship of
the represented to the object (this is a wooden house, built with wood and axe) and
finally, the symbol is the social convention of a house that this object also represents
(houses often have triangular roofs, a front door, windows, garden etc.)
This latter triadic cycle allows for different interpretations of different object with
different people. The relationships between signs could therefore be interpreted in
unlimited ways. Peirce referred to this notion of innumerable possible interpretations
as “unlimited semiosis” (as cited in Harrell, 2007). In virtual reality experiences, we
find that immersion and understanding what is happening in front of the user is
actually not that different from reality, so long as the logistics of meaning-making
follow the same rules as real life.
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Signs – Real, as well as make-believe
Just like in real life, we as a species are naturally programmed to make sense of what
is happening in front of us. The same goes with Minecraft. When standing still and
observing the world, it will soon become dark and you will be defenseless against
monsters. As Duncan (2011) states, “one could interpret the goal of the game as being
simply, don’t die”. The game gives you no goals and doesn’t tell you to do anything,
but you make meaning of what is there in front of you (find a tree, figure out how to
cut it, make a house to protect you from creatures at night etc.). This creates a sense
of make-your-own story where your references are cognitive social convention.
Semiosis contributes to the feeling of virtual reality and immersion. But your feeling
of immersion is still dependent on the interpretation of what is happening in front of
you in a virtual world. In Minecraft, you form your own story, while there is no
given story; only visual representations to identify and interpret.
Kendall Walton (1990) and his prop theory suggest that any type of visual
representation in fiction is a game of make-believe. However, when one would enter
a virtual reality Minecraft experience, they would not refer to other characters as
semiotic constructions but as characters that increase immersion. The user’s level of
telepresence dictates them to feel and interpret the world as a new realistic realm to
explore that follows a set of rules. In Minecraft’s case, it is basically the same set of
rules when confronted with objects: axes cut trees, wood make houses and so on.
Literary fiction expert Marie-Laure Ryan (1994) states that ‘the reader's sense of
immersion and empathy is a function of the depth of information’. The reader, or
user in Minecraft, is being forced to make their own sense of immersion and empathy
to the world because of the lack of instruction. Therefore, their telepresence and
interpretation of the immersive world they are in increases with every new sign they
construct a meaning out, based on their understanding of real life objects.
Dicisigns – The propositions of realism
Of course, everything that happens in virtual reality might well or not be ‘true’, but is
certainly not ‘real’. One should question how to define signs which are not
necessarily true or genuine. For that we will expand Pierce’s research of semiosis by
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adding a new component: dicisigns. As Peirce describes it, dicisigns are
‘propositions’ of signs and their compulsive effect on the interpreter. He argues that
dicisigns are signs that convey information, rather than a sign from which
information may be derived. Stjernfelt (2014) cites that “Dicisigns are thus signs which
may be assigned a truth value—without providing, themselves, reasons for that value.”
Stjernfelt also notes that the conveying of the truth value of dicisigns can be to
oneself.
Peirce uses the example of a photograph. If the interpreter describes the rectangular
object as: ‘This is a photograph’, then he conveyed the message of the rectangular
object being a photograph to himself and others, without necessarily being true. The
mere print of the photograph does not derive any information in itself. We convey
information of what is on the photograph itself. The fact that the photograph is
basically a set of light rays projected on the piece of print by another object transfers
the object of the photograph to a dicisign because we do not know whether the
projection is true. Also, when someone acknowledges the photograph being a
photograph without having an absolute truth value of what a photograph should be
(merely the shape of a photograph or also with a picture on it) the sign changes in
meaning. The proposition of what the sign actually is and how it is interpreted
describes the object from an indexical standpoint, because the form of the picture on
the photograph directly connects to the causal relationship of light rays projected on
the photograph. However, the sign may actually also be symbolical, dependent on the
viewpoint of the interpreter, if the interpreter simply deems the photograph object in
itself as a social construction of what a photograph should look like. Thus, the
proposition of a photograph demonstrates that signs can be interpreted not only on
how the interpreter acknowledges it, but also to what the possible causal/physical
relation of the representamen of the sign is, without having a truth value.
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Figure 4: A Minecraft Spider, a common enemy in the game.
Immersion, interpretation and reaction
To demonstrate dicisigns and meaning-making in correlation with immersion, we
will use the example of enemies within Minecraft. Most people would interpret
black, red-eyed spiders within videogames as a hostile force unless explained
otherwise. If you would have arachnophobia and be confronted with spiders within
Minecraft, your mind would have to process and let go of the feeing of immersion
you are not really in danger, only your virtual character is. The physical reaction of
seeing a Spider in the game is a truth value of genuine heartfelt fear within the user
caused by the virtual reality surrounding, which here serves as an icon. The index of
the dicisign here is the natural reaction of anxiety when seeing an enemy. The truth
value of this dicisign is that the mind is being tricked into thinking that the signs in
front of the interpreter are faced in real life, rather than in virtual reality. The
conveyed information was interpreted, but not necessarily ‘true’. The emotion is,
however, ‘real’.
Simulacra & Simulation
At this stage, it might be interesting to mention the postmodern philosophy of
Simulacra and Simulation. A theory by Jean Baudrillard (1994), the simulacrum is the
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representation of a person or an object. Baudrillard proposes that simulacra are not
the mediation of reality, but the perception of reality. They are the signs and symbols
we associate with our understanding of everyday life.
These perceptions of reality and our understanding of cultural associations reoccur
within the virtual world of Minecraft. Baudrillard mentions the first stage of sign-
ordering, which is the ‘sacramental order’ (1994, p.6). These simulacra are the signs
that mimic or represent their realistic counterparts to a truthful reflection. We believe
the perceived simulacrum to be a correct representation to the cognitive association
we have with the object, such as the Axe or the Spider. Minecraft sketches a world of
virtual signs that may well or not be truthful, but in the common sense they are
represented and interpreted as realistic reflections of the cognitive associations we
have with the object.
Narrative agency
In VR, the technological capabilities thus allow for the user to experience and
interpret actions and objects in a truthful sense of which meaning-making can be
conducted. The simulacra perceived in VR can be perceived as truthful to the user, to
which the user can perceive emotional responses, as demonstrated with the Spider
example. The conditions of VR-experiences, such as Oculus Rift, might possibly have
finally reached a technological achievement wherein meaningful storytelling can be
implemented. The VR Minecraft simulation serves as an emergent narrative
experience, whereas other VR-experiences may narrate a more linear structure in
terms of providing the user with a meaningful journey wherein they can become
immersed in a narratological adventure, sustained by the preference of telepresence.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, virtual reality is a new realm of exploration to which meaning-making
may be assigned in a variety of ways, while always referring back to the cognitive
references the user has from social conventions. Indeed, VR simulations may now
finally have reached a point wherein the simulation can procreate genuine emotion
and cognitive association that apply to simulacra and cultural signs and symbols. As
we saw with the VR Minecraft examples, virtual reality signs might actually hold the
same social cognitive references of signals that apply to real life. The user might not
even have a hard time interpreting new virtual signs he or she encounters, provided
these are subjective to social convention and the laws of physics. Their level of
telepresence puts them in an immersion where they favor a virtual world in which
normal social actions are performed on a much faster basis. For example, in
Minecraft you can build a house in an hour whereas in real life that will take months,
but building a house is still indexical to a causal relationship of collecting resources
to a triangular stack, that forms a house in the symbolical sign. According to
Csikszentmihalyi (1990), the combination of action and awareness renders the
interpreter to be in a state of optimal experience. When in a state of relaxation, the
interpreter can interpret the virtual reality signs while feeling safe and willing to
favor a telepresence. Indeed, the level of immersion within virtual reality is
dependent on the ability of the interpreter to make indexical and symbolical signs
out of the representamen, while at the same time recognizing the truth values of
what signs the interpreter is confronted with. The technological Renaissance VR is
currently undergoing might finally render virtual experiences to be a heartfelt
narrative journey, wherein the telepresence of the user adds to the narrative
enjoyment. The narrative signs and symbols the user is confronted with speaks to the
user’s cognitive referendum. In Minecraft, an emergent narrative experience, it
draws back to the social references the user projects, builds and is confronted with.
At the same time, the emergent narrative journey the users sets out for themselves
are subjective to simulacra. New, creative constructions are still based on the
fundamentals of social conventions (houses have roofs, big red-eyed spiders are
probably hostile). Minecraft is therefore an excellent hub to explore the possibilities
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of narration in VR, as well as virtual meaning-making. As the publications of
Learning and Teaching state:
‘What a person can build in Minecraft is nearly limitless from representations of the real
world (like Pyramids and ruins) to wildly imaginative fantastic worlds such as ... the solar
power station of the 23rd Century or habitats on Mars.’ (Brand and Kinash, 2013, p. 057)
Suggestions for further research
A reoccurring feature within this research was the reoccurrence of narrative
fundamentalism in appliance with semiotics. Seeing as meaningful virtual reality
experiences are relatively new in the industry, it might be of industrial as well as
academic benefit to explore the possibilities of interactive storytelling within VR.
Bostan & Marsh (2012) have proposed that the emphasis of interactive storytelling
should not remain with the technological attributes, but also to the amount of
attributes to be manipulated by the user. In that perspective, VR storytelling must
consider the possibilities of the amount of interactivity it gives to the user, as
opposed to the ludological experience. It could possibly be interesting to consider a
narrative paradigm for VR, wherein the narratological options presented to the user
mask a branching storyline. If discovered that certain options lead to specific
outcomes, the user might have the incentive to restart the simulation, in order to test
all the possible options and traverse all possible outcomes.
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