New book from the Playful Methods lab

It’s a great pleasure to announce the release of our new book, Virtual Reality Methods, which went on sale today.  It’s a collaborative effort by myself and Tess, with contributions from three former members of the Playful Methods lab (Calla, Tash and Eleanor) who did their masters projects on VR topics.  The book is designed to demonstrate that you don’t need to be a technical expert to get started with really interesting research projects using VR.
 
The idea is that each chapter takes the reader through a different method, featuring a worked example of a project from the lab.  These include:

• Content analysis, featuring a case study exploring approaches to undertaking a close-textual reading of Half-Life Alyx
• Working with participants, drawing on Calla’s work with experienced gamers playing the zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine
• Social VR, examining how communities come together in VR spaces, drawing on Tash’s ethnographic work within VR Church
• 360 photography and video, exploring the most basic form of original content creation for VR, drawing on Eleanor’s work looking at the potential restorative effects of green space experienced through a headset
• Creating original VR environments, examining how to create basic experiences for participants using games engine technologies, including a case study of recreating grand architectural environments

 
Thanks to funding from the Universities of Birmingham and Groningen, the book will also be available as open access later this year.
 
We’re really proud of this book as an example of collaborative endeavour and the power of getting students directly involved in research projects.  It’s the culmination of a couple of years of work in this area but also sets us up for a series of new projects, which are currently at different stages of development.  Watch this space for updates…