Virtual Unreality: Augmentation-Oriented Ideation Through Design Cards

While realism is a common design goal for virtual reality (VR), VR also offers opportunities that are impossible in the real world (e.g., telekinesis). So far, there is no design support to exploit the potential of such “impossible” augmentations, especially for serious applications. We developed a card set and a workshop format, which features 15 opportunities to facilitate the ideation of augmentation-oriented VR. We piloted the method in five workshops with people in the early stages of developing a VR application (N=35). Participants found the cards easy to use and to inspire viable new concepts that differed from earlier ideas. Analysis of the concepts with interaction criticism identified two strategies: (1) augmentations that are only loosely related to the purpose of the application, simply to increase “fun”, and (2) augmentations that are closely related to the core purpose and thereby subtly facilitate its fulfillment. The latter has the greater potential.