We Met in Virtual Reality Quick View; Grade: C+
We Met in Virtual Reality is a documentary film taken place during the quarantine days of 2020, shot entirely in Virtual Reality. In this film: We’ll discover the worlds in which VR Chatroom has to offer, where we’ll be acquainted with several members in this community. Whether it be one whom teaches a sign language class, one that teaches a dancing class, or simply a couple of significant others developing a relationship of some kind.
One time while attending one of my friends Aaron Lockhart’s legendary birthday party shin gigs, one brought over their VR setup as people would take turns playing games. I did played this one game where I would hit colored targets, as I would also dodge targets from hitting me as well. That was my only experience with VR as it was a cool little game and nothing more, something I wouldn’t want to do in my free time at all.
VR has gain some kind of traction over the years, I wouldn’t be surprised if 2020 sparked a massive following since a lot of people were mostly isolated in their homes due to the pain in the ass, so they needed to find some kind of escape to go to. Which brings Metaverse to life in 2021 as by the commercial… Something felt really off. Before experiencing this film, my whole perspective on VR is fine for the casual gamers, but as far as wanting to expand to experiencing a life in VR…. That is troublesome to me.
Human Beings were meant to experience life outside of their homes, especially a life that is actually realistic, as Human Beings being too attached to an entirely fake world can cause some serious problems in terms of communication skills and especially behavior skills. It’s bad enough we have a true identity crisis going on in today’s culture, now add a virtual world where people believe they can be literally whatever they want as they feel the virtual world is real… It’s a cry for help honestly. I’m not too sure how long VR will last, it has gone a bit down plus now people are starting to be more aware of it’s dangerous nature so who knows.
Anyhow: This documentary t’was an intriguing little watch. For starters: The style of film making is unique as it’s entirely shot in this Virtual Reality world. While I will say the visuals aren’t really that impressive to experience, however at least it was realistic to the world building experience so we can least appreciate the film maker for doing his very best, to bring this world to life.
The short stories we’ve experience are on and off. I felt the best story by far was the whole sign language community part, as I felt that was truly the most interesting and most wholesome part of this entire film for me. It’s cool little Segway how VR can actually do some good by teaching a sign language course, while you understand sympathy given to this community, that they can go to a place where they can escape reality for a bit. Sure we want the deaf community to grow and thrive in the real world, but we can actually understand given there are cruel people whom treat those with disabilities harshly, so you can understand why they would escape to a place like this. I like the teacher involved and the assistant teacher as they showed their passion for this community and their line of work, as there is a well executed emotional moment involving grief in the final act.
The short story involving the relationship was fine I would say. I thought the relationship was developed just fine, as you understand the beginning of the relationship as how they’ve connected over the course of time. I wish more improvement was made in terms of discussing their relationship outside of VR. Like did they actually exchange numbers? Did they actually FaceTime each other, as how did they feel when they did for the first time? Explaining their experience meeting each other, since this film indicates they did? You just want more to be told since you’re interested to see if this relationship actually works outside of VR, as if so… Why do they continue going on VR for, when they can just talk on the phone via FaceTime?
I feel the short story with the one whom teaches dancing to be a little interesting, however the film really doesn’t develop it much further than what we wanted. Especially given the fact she accomplished something worth being proud of in the end, as you don’t feel that feeling of being happy for her as we didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with her in the first place. Same can be said about a short story involving a dancer at a club of some kind… Felt kind of a random Segway, as I’m not sure why we needed to have another sequence involving her wearing a designed virtual dress.
I feel this film does a fairly good job besides going on VR due to the pain in the ass, that we understand why those choose to venture out in a world like this. Like the internet and social media: Sometimes people have a struggling time with communicating in the real world, as human beings can indeed be difficult, more so than ever nowadays unless you live in the South. So it’s another unique way in communicating, where you feel freely to express your thoughts and feelings however you like. While also understanding that sometimes this is another format to escape reality for a bit. I may not find interest in VR, but I do see that people can find some kind of enjoyment and sometimes life can be difficult, so I understand why those go into this Virtual World for a bit.
There’s one sequence in which a gal is expressing that in the real world, you can not be yourself as there is this expectation made for yourself in the real world as that is completely false. You can be whomever you want to be, the only thing really holding yourself back is yourself and your insecurity, so escaping reality to just be yourself… Not really a significant reason to be on VR. At the end of the day: VR is an entirely fake world, when we become too consumed in a fake world, we lose our sense of reality as our mental state will continue to digress… Look at the world now, due to being too consumed in a fake world via Social Media, not a whole lot of sanity in the world these days.
I feel when the one gal at the end talking about wishing more people would be open minded about Virtual Reality, as it could be a better way to develop relationships since it’s all about falling for one’s personality feels completely blasphemous. I understand where she’s coming from, but the problem is with this world… It’s extremely easy to manipulate and trick people into being something they’re not. In fact: I feel predators can capitalize on this platform, since they’re creating an avatar that doesn’t aligned with who they really are in real life. VR: Can be dangerous for your mental health and can be dangerous for the safety of people especially too.
I wish there was better structure and the stories to be developed better. It’s a unique way of film making followed by an interesting premise, just wish it had a bit more to offer where we can be more attached with the characters and such.
Overall, We Met in Virtual Reality was average. I recommend checking this one out, can be found on HBO Max. Do I recommend going on VR?! Oh Hell No, Keep that Garbage far far away from me. -Mitch Smietana