Amorphous: Social VR
A virtual reality experiment that envisions a safe world where identities are fluid, ever-changing, and shaped by interactions.
Client
Personal project
Duration
Sept. - Dec., 2020
Roles
Concept Artist, Product Designer, Prototyper
Tools
Unity, Blender, Figma
Collaborators
Tianxu Zhou
Overview
Amorphous imagines a virtual reality (VR) ecosystem that allows both self-exploration and collaboration in a safe online environment. In Amorphous, abstract forms replace conventional avatars and safety measures are put in place to mitigate cyber harassment. As the sole designer, I was responsible for the concept development, user experience and interaction. I also contributed to prototyping by experimenting different animations and visual effects.
User Research
CYBER SECURITYThough harassment in digital spaces is not a new issue, the immersive quality of VR technology intensifies its impact, making it feel more tangible compared to interactions on a traditional screen. Harassment encounters can become more distressing due to features like real-time voice chat, heightened feelings of presence and embodiment, and avatar movements that can intrude personal space, simulating actions like touching or grabbing.
IDENTITYAvatars play a significant role in shaping one's digital identity within the metaverse, as they reflect the user's style, interests, and personality. However, users have expressed concerns about authentic representation and complained about the lack of aesthetics.
Concept & Mockup
Unlike conventional avatars, Amorphous allows users to ditch their pre-defined form and embody a more fluid, organic shape. We want users to explore how their self-perception might change when their digital “body” is shaped by interaction with and without others.
Prototype showing user as a “blob”
Interaction Design
As users approach the center, they unlock more interaction modes
Together, users can form new shapes through three forms of interactions: combine, separate and duplicate. Inspired by Edward T. Hall’s zones of interpersonal space, I design a system that unlocks more features and modes of interactions based on distance and user consent. The illustration below shows that, for example, users in the social circle can unmute and talk to each other; and as they move closer to the personal circle, they have the opportunity to invoke the combine function. With all parties’ consent, they can also enable the private chat function. Any place outside the social circle is considered public space and no interactions happen there.
User journey for the combine interaction
Concept for the combine interation
Prototype
Throughout the process, I worked closely with the engineer to test the interaction. Below is a prototype of two users encountering each other and merging to form a new shape.
Reflections
Our prototype had to stop at the shape of blobs due to technical and time limits. In future iterations, I would like to revisit the original idea of a more fluid and organic shape that dynamically adapts to users' body movements, creating a seamless and immersive experience.
While I didn’t have the time to design a comprehensive UI system in the current phase, I'm intrigued by the prospect of delving into how the UI can enhance user interaction within a 3D space.
