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Virtual Reality For Writers, Publishing And Gaming With Rob Morgan

1,100 views · Published 29 May 2015 · 44:13 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: The Creative Penn · 2015 · Education

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I've been excited about virtual reality for a while now and today I finally get to do a whole show on it! Rob Morgan explains what VR and augmented reality are, how the technology impacts writers and storytelling as well as discussing what the future might hold for gaming, education, retail and VR socializing.
Rob Morgan is a game writer, narrative designer and voice director. Rob is currently developing stories and writing scripts for upcoming virtual reality titles across multiple genres.

    How Rob moved into VR and gaming. Rob did literature at University and then moved to a digital agency. He did some work with a Sony augmented book and game – the Wonderbook, which led into a project with JK Rowling – Wonderbook: Book of Spells. Then Rob moved into working on virtual reality projects.

    Defining augmented reality vs virtual reality. VR basically obscures your normal vision and replaces it with a helmet/pair of screens; replacing your normal vision with pixels. It has sound and haptics (touch) and smell are under development. Augmented reality is another layer on the existing world – superimposing onto your vision e.g. directions on top of the road that aren't necessarily seen by other people. This is already here with how we use smartphone apps like maps, Google Glass and more. For authors, doing a map of your fictional characters around a neighbourhood or have monsters pop out as you walk around. There are all sorts of possibilities.

    steam VRVirtual reality is on the cusp of being mainstream commercial. The first VR headsets will be for sale in 2015. Some of the options: Oculus Rift (now owned by Facebook), Samsung Gear, Sony Morpheus, Steam VR, Microsoft Hololens ... and cheaper smartphone options like Google Cardboard.

    The aim of VR is getting to something like the Holodeck on Star Trek. They didn't use it for just gaming, they resurrected stories and experienced more nuanced entertainment there. All types of content creators are excited about VR. They want to tell a compelling story that people want to be immersed in.

    The technology is growing fast in the games industry, but is also about doing more social entertainment for families, as well as education, retail and social networks. The applications will be used in multiple industries. Examples in education (medics); doctor's surgeries, example in retail from Westfield malls; social meetups in VR world High Fidelity.

    On bookstores and VR applications for authors and publishers. Telepresence through VR for book launches would be fantastic. Retailing in a VR bookstore may not be the optimal use of the technology. [See my article here on what I think about VR for publishing] It's not worth developing these VR retail spaces as publishers - it's more interesting to think about VR experiences for people, ways to immerse readers in stories.

And remember, whatever the technology, storytellers and content creators will always be needed!

You can find Rob at GameStory.co.uk and on twitter @AboutThisLater

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