Q1: This article was written before the popularity of Metaverse. Do you still agree with that VR experiences create solipsistic quality?

I do not think so, and I believe VR experiences does not only focus on solipsistic quality even before the popularity of Metaverse. Firstly, we need to know that VR is a media, and it has the nature of interaction which makes it similar to the games. And if we consider the potential of VR based on our experiences of the games. We can easily conclude that VR can not only provides with solipsistic experiences. For example, there are many games empathizing their social interaction, such as MMO and some cooperating games. Despite there are many restrictions for the expression through games, games can widen people’s social range to the whole world. Moreover, games, or other online interaction softwares makes many unusual ways of people’s interaction possible and common. From this point of view, we can see VR has the potential to have similar functions, and Metaverse is actually an enhanced MMO world created in VR world.

Q2: Please analyze and define what the immersive experience is from the perspective of a sense of derealization and empathy in this article. Does immersive experience necessarily involve a sense of derealization(depersonalization) and empathy?

For derealization, I think the situation depends on the purpose of the experience. The article suggests that VR is a “hot” media which requires a lot of attention from the people and thus get people immersed in the experience. This means that VR is a perfect choice to create an imaginary space. For this purpose, even if the artist wants to make each element in VR very real, it is still a kind of derealization if the artist’s intention is to create his/her own imaginary space. However, as Coupland suggests in the article, VR is as much data as human can handle, which means VR can be the best and most comprehensive way to replicate a real experience happened in the world. Because it contains more data thhan other media, and can contains all other medias in itself. For example, it can used as a tool for journalism and photography. In this aspect, VR is still a good choice when we want to emphasize reality.

As for empathy, I think most of VR artworks let the user has empathy, even the artist does not intend to do so. Since one of the basic purposes of an immersive experience is to make the user immersed in the unreal space. Usually, the artist may give the user an identity, which can help the user to immerse himself/herself and consider the experience in a designed way. However, there are situation where the artist does not think about his/her user and only focus on expressing himself/herself. And this situation also happens for other art medias, such as improvisation music and diary writing. From this perspective, even the artist may not intend to do so, he/she actually gives the audience a chance to know his/her real feeling in the heart, which also let the audience have empathy to his/her own experiences.