Virtually Limited: Boundaries of Play in Virtual Reality Production

This DiGRA 2023 paper examines the relationship between game production and virtual reality development, focusing on how play manifests in the VR production process and how developers discursively position VR relative to games. The authors argue that although VR marketing and public discourse, shaped in part by major tech firms' investments, have distanced the technology from gaming in favor of social, educational, and business applications, games and play remain structurally embedded in how VR content is made. Because VR is built on game engines such as Unity and Unreal, developers tend to come from gaming backgrounds, and the industry's culture of constant play persists throughout development.

The study is based on in-depth interviews with 22 game and VR developers in North America, recruited through snowball sampling across indie studios, mid-sized firms, VR production companies, and virtual meeting platform businesses. Interviewees were predominantly white (75%) and male (90%), demographics the authors note are broadly representative of the games industry. Transcripts were analyzed inductively using thematic analysis, with coding cross-checked among team members. The authors describe these results as preliminary, with further interviews planned.

Key findings indicate that developers largely do not frame VR around play, instead viewing it as a platform for social and business applications. Nonetheless, play shapes concrete production practices, including the use of game studio tools such as whiteboards and 3D painting software for prototyping, in-VR standup meetings, and weekly multiplayer sessions that built team cohesion during COVID-19 lockdowns. Social, informal, and spontaneous play was valued more highly in VR than structured, rule-bound gameplay, with developers emphasizing bodily engagement and multi-person interaction over traditional controls. The authors conclude that VR removes earlier limits on playful interaction, pointing toward freeform engagement rather than the highly structured play typical of conventional games.