Nowadays, it seems like every tech company worth its salt has a VR headset for sale—haptic feedback gloves, unfortunately, are still working their way into the industry. However, dear readers, you don’t need to fork out a small fortune to experience virtual realities. Long before modern advances made tech wonderlands like the MetaVerse a reality, authors have been creating them on the page. Enter the science fiction subgenre aptly called Virtual Reality Fiction, a collection of fiction where authors explore the myriad ways we might immerse ourselves not just in our screens but the 0s and 1s within. Let’s explore this inception-esque genre together and understand the nuance behind tech worlds within fictional worlds (within our world).
What is Virtual Reality Fiction?
At its simplest, Virtual Reality Fiction involves a character who finds themself in a fully immersive reality, usually (though not always) computer generated that is secondary to their actual reality. “Immersive” here means that the character must be able to affect the world and the world in turn must affect them. In modern stories, Virtual Reality Fiction often features video games that absorb the protagonist and sometimes inflict real-life consequences—although some would argue this is becoming cliche within the genre. In other cases, the virtual reality setting is often used by the protagonist and other characters as a proxy for settling real-life disputes because they can avoid real-life consequences. Using this hack, characters can get into a fight, die in the game, and then log off in time for supper.
Common Tropes
- Trapped in the Screen: Whether by some unique feature of the virtual world or a mechanical failure on the outside, characters who engage with virtual reality can find themselves trapped in this new world, unable to return home. Think Sword Art Online or, more loosely, Philip K. Dick’s Eye in the Sky (which, in my opinion, is a novel that blurs the line between virtual reality, alternate reality, and portal stories).
- Virtual Reality Hardware: When writing a Virtual Reality story, you must consider how your character will enter the virtual world. Oftentimes, this is accomplished through some type of hardware. You may choose to incorporate an immersive helmet or goggles as seen in Stanley G. Weinbaum’s “Pygmalion’s Spectacles,” or follow whether that be an immersive helmet, haptic feedback gloves, or an immersion pod.
- The Game is Real: Some Virtual Reality Fiction takes the idea of simulated realities a step back by revealing that what the protagonist assumed to be virtual reality is, in fact, reality to someone. We can see this in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
Why I Like Virtual Reality Fiction
As writers, we are already playing God by creating entire universes and people to inhabit them, but Virtual Reality Fiction gives us a chance to deepen that drive for creation. While it’s fun to imagine two or more realities for characters in these works, what I enjoy most is using the supplemental worlds to dissect my character’s psychological makeup. Does this new reality feature manifestations of their worst traits? Perhaps the best? And when it all goes wrong, what does that mean for the character themself? Science fiction can, at times, get lost in the weeds of technology, losing the nuance of storytelling behind strict explanations of fact. However, this penchant for probing the limits of creation allows Virtual Reality Fiction to marry hard science to the softer, subtler social sciences in a way that is scientifically, mentally, and emotionally stimulating.
Why YOU Should Explore Virtual Reality Fiction
You might worry that with modern advances in virtual reality technology, the possibility for innovation in fiction has escaped us, but one of the best aspects of fiction is that it doesn’t have to follow real-world conventions. If you decide to try your hand at Virtual Reality Fiction, push the boundaries of what we know to be true and explore what we hope to be possible. By nature of having your characters inhabit multiple realities within the confines of one story, Virtual Reality Fiction inspires you to weave multiple storylines into one. Flex your subplot muscles and give this genre a try! You might also consider the following themes:
- Control: By putting your characters into a simulation where their choices may or may not matter, you allow them to test the limits of control over themselves and the world around them. Similarly, you might do the reverse and explore how your characters react when they lose control.
- Technology: I would be remiss not to touch on the role of technology in Virtual Reality Fiction. It doesn’t always have to touch on the dangers of technology, such as the life-threatening AI featured in the film Moonfall. This technology could be a net-good for society but controlled by bad agents. You decide whether the technology that allows your characters to inhabit a new reality is good, bad, or somewhere in between.
- Competition: Especially in stories that center on video games as the vehicle for a second reality, competition is inherent to the conflict. In Ready Player One, the hunt for Halliday’s Easter eggs is the main competition that leads to life-or-death obstacles for Wade. A common complaint against this genre is that the consequences ultimately don’t matter when it’s all virtual, so use the idea of an overarching competition to create real world consequences for your protagonist.
Virtual Reality Fiction That We Love
My friends know that I have been working on a Virtual Reality story lately, and one of my biggest influences has been Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. With humor and drama in equal parts, Cline leads readers on a journey through the OASIS, a virtual utopia where people of all ages and classes go to escape their bleak, post-energy crisis realities. For anyone wanting to dip their toes into Virtual Reality Fiction without the heavy jargon we see in hard science fiction, this is a great choice.
The Eye of Minds by James Dashner is a great read for anyone into virtual reality. It’s got an exciting story, amazing world-building, and makes you think. Set in a future where the VirtNet lets gamers have incredible experiences, the book follows Michael as he tries to stop a rogue hacker in a high-stakes adventure. Dashner’s vivid descriptions and fast-paced writing draw you into the detailed virtual worlds, making you feel like you’re actually there. The book also tackles big themes like the impact of technology, what’s real, and the ethics of escaping into virtual worlds, making it both thrilling and thought-provoking.
If you know me, then you know that I’m a huge fan of anime and manga. One of my absolute favorite manga is Sword Art Online. You can dive into this story from one of two ways: You can read the Aincrad Manga or you can jump straight into Sword Art Online: Progressive light novel. The manga starts at the very beginning of the story, whereas the light novels start when the two main characters are forced to play together. Either way, this series is the epitome of virtual reality because if you die in the game, you die in real life. Sword Art Online features a headset that makes the game more life-like when you’re playing it: the only problem is that when the game launches, it’s missing the logout button. Join Kirito as he battles through the levels of Aincrad to beat the game and win the opportunity to log everyone out.