University of Toronto Mississauga Campus
Immersive VR Roleplay Offers Students New Perspectives to Help Address Bullying
Name: Yulin (Linda) Chen
Course code: EDS200H5S
Professor name: Carly Prusky
Due date: April 11th, 2022
Describe the Activity
The activity is VR based immersive role-play simulation real-world scenario of different
characters and get a view of what life is like for others who come from different backgrounds.
VR equipment is needed for this activity, and a safe fenced space to move around in while you’re
immersed in the VR world. During this game, players will be given a set of tasks to complete
while they roleplay and interact with other players. Players will also be given a list of restrictions
of what they can’t do to simulate some of the hardships people from different backgrounds face.
This will offer students a different perspective on other people's lives in a way they might have
not thought about or have been aware of. As a result of that, students will be encouraged to be
more understanding, kind, and caring towards one another. This activity should help reduce some
of the bullying effects that may have been amplified during early adolescence when everyone
was exploring their own identity. But the role-plays would have to be really carefully designed so
as to not amplify stereotypes and make the bullying worse.
The activity is targeted at people around the age of 16 to 24. This age range covers the
end of adolescence and the beginning of early adulthood. People during this age group are
usually students either in high school or university. And it’s designed to help address stereotypes
and bullying that take place within classrooms and to make the learning environment more
welcoming for everyone.
Also, it is worth noting that there are those who may be sensitive to motion and would get
motion sickness from this kind of activity and typically be left out. However, technology has
developed enough in recent years that if you have something set up in VR, you can usually
download an app on your PC and run that instead of VR to simulate the same experience. This
would make this activity very inclusive for everyone.
Why I Decided to Create This Activity
I decided to create this activity because I wish something like this existed. I struggle with
mental health, and there are times when I felt really alone because no one really understood what
I was going through. For example, depression is more than just feeling sad all the time, high
function depression means we have learned to mask that.
Nowadays, those who are in high school and university seem to be into AR, VR, and the
metaverse that NFT space is building. I am no exception to this statement. In fact, I work for a
company called fyat lux that’s working to build the next well-known brand in the metaverse.
Fyat lux is the first phygital NFT project, meaning we have something physical card that does
cool AR stuff for our NFT holders. This allows them to bridge the gap between web2 and web3.
We are also working to bring storytelling to the metaverse world through NFTs. Since we all
spend so much time within this particular space, I thought it would be an effective way to get an
important message across to adolescence and early adults. Plus the immersive environment
would provide students with multi means of media when it comes to learning. VR environment
can offer sound, visuals, as well as text depending on how it’s set up.
Developmental Concepts That are Related
Under the physical development section, this activity is designed to help students refine
their fine motor skills as they work with VR technology equipment. The activity also involves
students walking around and doing tasks. The VR character movements is controlled by
students’ real life movements while using the VR equipment. Which means it also allows them
to practice the gross in a potentially new manner because before they may not be used to not
being able to see where they’re going in real life but still have to walk to make a character walk.
Under the social-emotional development section, this activity is mainly designed to help
students develop their social awareness. This activity was designed to address bullying and
stereotypes within classrooms by offering students a different perspective of life from the life
they know. But it also offers students a chance at developing self-awareness as they have a
chance to see how their actions may be affecting other people. Because the game involves
roleplaying and interacting with other players to finish all the tasks, they improve their
relationship and communication skills.
Under the cognitive development section, this activity is designed to help students to
develop their abstract thinking. Challenge beliefs and opinions they currently hold. And be more
confident in their personal fable for when their beliefs may go against their peers. They would be
able to better define their beliefs of why it’s important to show kindness to others rather than
make fun of them for example. But since this activity can be adjusted to simulate what the
teacher wants to address, it can very well be any reasonable issue that can be taught effectively
through this environment.
Why It’s Not Appropriate for Other Life Span Stages
This activity is not appropriate for infants because they’re still developing their basic
gross and fine motor skills. This activity requires they to already have that developed in order to
complete successfully. That being said, they also have not yet developed the cognitive capacity
required to benefit from this activity.
This activity is not best suited for children because they have not yet developed a sense of
self-identity and self-awareness. This is required in order for the activity to be beneficial for
them. Also it is worth noting that most children can be pretty clumsy and VR equipment isn’t
cheap, so it’s not the most appropriate life span stage group to target.
This activity is not a good choice for middle and late adults. This is due to the fact that
adults in this stage have past the prime time of their life and their body functions and cognitive
functions start declining. They should be focused on activities to help their current body
movements as well as cognitive abilities. Plus reduced ability to manage technology effectively
means there’s a high risk of it getting damaged during usage. Not to mention, in order for it to be
the most effect, it should be done earlier in life so their believes could have been shaped
differently while they were interacting with others throughout their lives.
Citation
50. What Is Lifespan Development? PB Pressbooks. (2014, February 14). Retrieved April
11, 2022, from
https://opentext.wsu.edu/psych105nusbaum/chapter/what-is-lifespan-development/#:~:text
=Lifespan%20development%20explores%20how%20we,%2C%20cognitive%20developm
ent%2C%20and%20psychosocial.
Fyat Lux. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://fyatlux.com/
Ramsey, A. (n.d.). Cognitive Development. Cincinnati Childrens. Retrieved April 11, 2022,
from https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/c/cognitive
Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, March 16). Social Emotional Development. Wikipedia.
Retrieved April 11, 2022, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_emotional_development