How Immersive VR can Help Nonprofit Organizations

Today, nonprofits, AKA non-governmental organizations (NGOs), face a challenge -to differentiate themselves from other organizations, and from the rest of the content online, fighting for people's attention. People tend to respond better to issues they can identify with and that they feel closer to. Virtual Reality (VR) can bridge this gap in presenting different issues while incentivizing people to engage with them.

VR gives users the ability to control an avatar, which offers a unique feeling of connection to the world around them. In contrast to traditional media, VR elicits a higher sense of immersion in users. While we can still get absorbed when reading a book or watching a movie, VR blocks out our external environment and presents a substitute for reality. It affords users with a sense of "being there".

Previous researchshows that participants' behavior can be primed after VR experiences. Greater empathy and pro social behavior can be attained, although these effects are not always long term. Nonprofits can take advantage of this by creating stories that help participants understand particular issues better. With the following design principles, nonprofits can achieve greater immersion:

Customization

When given the opportunity, users can select certain characteristics to better embody and identify with an avatar. Users can then feel closer to a situation because they selected their own avatar. Depending on their avatar's appearance, the participant's behavior and experience can be altered. This is referred to as the Proteus Effect, where people who choose or are assigned a virtual persona begin to act accordingly to their looks.In this study, researchers examine the Proteus effect when applied to stereotypes, behavior, and avatar race.

Customization can come in handy for nonprofits because participants choose how they want to be represented in the environment. They are placing themselves in the position of those they are trying to help. Glimpse's subsidiary company, Foretell Reality, creates an environment based on empathy, intimacy, and attention for people seeking support. This can improve how nonprofits think about empathy in individual or group therapy.