GREENER is a two-tier VR sandbox style app that rewards & instills empathy through simple, user-generated tools that enable a player to walk in the shoes of someone else. Let’s walk through the program with Molly, who attaches her smartphone to a set of VR goggles.
Tier 1: The Labyrinth. The precursor to Molly’s main experience is a 10 minute intro, akin to an interactive public service announcement. But it offers more than a lesson; it instantly measures how she interacts with her virtual world. Imagine Molly stepping into an open marketplace. She sees an old man begging for food, a little dog that can’t reach its water dish, a lady who drops her pocketbook & people who say "Hello." These situational moments gauge her compassion toward others. Molly may give the old man a buck, move the bowl of water closer to the puppy, or reach to pick up the lady’s purse. Alternatively, she may rush past the man, turn away from the dog, leave the purse for someone else to worry about, and look past the faces in the crowd without making eye contact. Advancement beyond the labyrinth depends upon Molly’s choices, which have benefits & consequences. If she demonstrates empathy, she is rewarded for her selflessness & expedited in her journey out of the labyrinth. If she demonstrates too much selfishness, Molly is delayed in her gratification, and her time in the marketplace is extended to give her extra time to engage.
Tier 2: The Main VR Experience. In either case, Molly proceeds, and walks in someone else’s shoes. This intensive scenario might be trekking through a devastated community in the aftermath of a wildfire or other disaster, where empathy is an essential element of her education. The experiential scenarios for this portion are developed by first-rate practitioners who take learning to the next level. The primary goal is to spark empathetic lives when the VR goggles come off.
The settings for the Labyrinth & Main VR Experience are just samples for prototyping. GREENER offers a revolutionary template for development of countless scenes that promulgate the same message in any course curriculum. It could be life in Ancient Greece, a poverty-stricken manufacturing community, or aboard the Mayflower. In any scenario, GREENER's interface provides the player a glimpse of how the grass might - or might not - be GREENER on the other side of the fence, offering an immersive opportunity to condition the heart & inspire a new wave of empathy among the citizenry.
