Today’s consumers value storytelling more than ever before. They grew up playing video games, saving the day as triumphant heroes and battling villains with their own prowess. Passively consuming content is no longer enough to satisfy customers — they yearn for interactive experiences that welcome players to own the narrative and immerse themselves completely.
As continuity and interactivity influence gaming more, the industry is seeing the benefits. In contrast to slow growth in the film industry, the gaming world has grown by 10% every year for the past nine years. With augmented reality-based games such as “Pokémon Go” and “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” increasing that interaction, active storytelling isn’t going anywhere.
But what keeps customers engaged with this type of content? Agency and consequence, two concepts that use social relationships as a means to inject realism and ownership into any story. The more consumers desire agency, the more investment there will be in the future of storytelling and location-based entertainment.
Becoming Part of the Story With Location-Based Virtual Reality
In a recent Latitude study titled, “The Future of Storytelling”, researchers discovered that audiences want content and reality to intermingle more than ever. The study highlighted the “four I’s” that will shape storytelling’s future: immersion, interactivity, integration, and impact.
The location-based virtual reality market addresses each component, making it nothing less than the ultimate and final medium of expression for storytelling. Location-based entertainment consists of movies plus gaming, a combination that must allow consumers to affect the story. Some location-based virtual reality companies allow users to move anywhere they want within the 3D digital world, though those same guests don’t have much control over the story.
The future of storytelling dictates that participants have consequences, agency, and the ability to incorporate themselves in the story’s world. Guests must also be empowered to interact with other guests, building on the social experience of seeing a movie in a theater. With location-based virtual reality experiences, they can participate in the same virtual experience as others while working toward a different outcome every time.
Every other medium — from the written word to the moving picture to traditional video games — strives to communicate an experience or a feeling. Location-based virtual reality experiences invite guests to participate in and feel the experience, making the future of storytelling more real than ever before.
If you’re interested in becoming a leader in the future of storytelling, you don’t have to wait for an opportunity. Click here to learn about how to become a virtual reality experience center owner!