虛擬實境之空間敘事性研究－以VR-CAVE為例

Abstract

隨著技術與媒材的日益發展，媒材對於敘事本身的依賴、以及與敘事之間的關係亦隨之有所改變。敘事，說明了事件是如何發生關聯的，它反映了我們對於時間、空間與感官間等各方面的經驗。虛擬實境(VR)作為一空間敘事的媒材，便能夠讓我們將來自於空間感知的經驗加以組織、進而能夠對此VR空間有所理解。此外，VR不同於其他媒材之處在於能夠讓使用者於觀賞與經歷上擁有更多的主導能力，因此無論空間敘事是如何被傳遞或接收，使用者扮演了一個重要的角色。儘管故事情節之於媒材發展上的潛力，但虛擬實境設計中敘事的應用目前也仍受到工具其技術發展上的限制。即使有些研究試圖將敘事理論應用在虛擬空間的設計上，也大部分著重在系統實作或介面層次上；反而對於VR空間經驗的組織與理解方面的研究，或是空間敘事性如何導致虛擬實境環境中人的經驗層次上卻甚少著墨。 本研究目的即試圖將虛擬實境視為一空間敘事的媒材，了解當觀者置身其中時的VR空間經驗，藉以探討虛擬實境中的空間敘事現象；更試圖探討虛擬實境中設計者所提供的敘事內容與觀者於VR中的主動參與度兩者之間的關係。 本研究欲探討的虛擬實境對象主要以VR-CAVE環境所呈現的沉浸式虛擬實境為主。而研究的方法分為兩部分：第一部份為案例分析，即選擇三者以不同敘事呈現的虛擬實境進行分析比較，藉此釐出虛擬實境空間敘事之初期現象；第二部份則讓受測者進行認知實驗與訪談，此階段分析後的結果，將與第一部份結果綜合比較，並提出虛擬實境空間敘事現象之進一步確認與修正。 本研究結果不僅透過相關文獻之整理提出一初步VR空間敘事理論架構，藉此為VR設計提供了另一種可能之評估方式；亦透過案例分析、認知實驗與訪談之研究方法，發現沉浸式虛擬實境之空間敘事現象。其次，本研究為沉境式虛擬實境之媒材性定調，即認為其為一空間敘事媒材，能夠提供觀賞者具空間感知的互動經驗。此外，本研究發現互動式空間敘事，可作為沉浸式虛擬實境於VR故事性與參與者操控度兩者向度取捨上之參考方針。最後期待本研究所得，能夠提供後續研究於發展更完整之虛擬實境敘事理論模型之參考，亦能供設計者作為虛擬實境設計之準則。

As media and technologies change and develop, their relationship to and dependence on narratives also changes. Narrative describes how events relate and reflects the organization of experience, which draws many aspects of our spatial, temporal and causal perception together. As for virtual reality (VR), which is a medium with narrative ability in space, it enables users to organize the experience gained from spatial perception and to get more spatial comprehension from VR spaces. On the other hand, what distinguishes VR from other media is that users have a great deal more control over what they see and experience. No matter how the narrative is received or created, users play an important role in the VR space. Many studies have indicated the narrative potential in media development, but the application of narrative in VR design has been influenced by the technical limitation of the tools. In the research of design in the VR environment, most studies that apply narrative theory to the solution of design problems have been developed on the purely technical level, but there is so little emphasis on the organization and comprehension of spatial experience that we cannot exactly understand how the narrative in VR space influences user experience. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the phenomena for narrative in VR space from the view of user experience. The experimental environment of this study is VR Cave and there are two steps to this study. First, we apply case study to analyze three VR cases selected. Second, cognitive experiment and interview are adopted to revise the preliminary phenomena proposed by first step. Afterward, how clearly defined is the role of narrative in immersive VR space and its relationship to this new media, and some phenomena of spatial narrative in immersive VR are discussed in details and some useful guidelines are given for future study.