So far, I had not found a way to introduce information about actual conflicts or realistic representations of objects or persons without the danger of triggering biases. For the fourth concept, I concluded that I, as far as possible, would avoid all references to the physical world, as these would all potentially contain prejudices.

Ironically, I ended up deciding that an otherworldly environment would be the best way to communicate my non-fiction topic. By creating a setting that would be alien to all humans – no matter what their cultural background – I would be able to focus on common human traits while, as far as possible, avoiding the triggering of cultural prejudices.

Our culture is all around us, like the air that we breathe – and the hidden prejudices it contains are invisible to us. To illustrate our inability to escape the culture to which we belong, I decided to place the experience underwater. This will signal to the participant that this is an environment that is alien to humans – somewhere ‘other’ where our previous experiences will not be valid in the decision-making process. It will also enable the participant to feel ‘caught’ in a medium that is inescapable – like the way in which our culture is part of ‘the air that we breathe’.

An added benefit is that an underwater environment can easily be represented as a beautiful and calm place that motivates exploration.

The VR experience will not tell the participant what to do to minimise my influence as a creator. If it starts by giving a quest or even signalling an expectation, then the rest of the participant’s user journey might be experienced as a response to the position they were placed in. Instead, I wished the surroundings to offer a situation that is challenging to understand, where the participant’s own curiosity will motivate a search for ‘the meaning’ of the VR experience.

We humans are innately inquisitive, and love to explore our surroundings. The mini-game “ (Hocking 2007)A brief history of Cambodia” (2012) demonstrates this beautifully. The web-based experience shows pixels seemingly floating on a wavy surface. The mouse cursor is shaped like a hand.

Nothing happens. After a while, I used the hand to grab one of the pixels. I noticed that I could pull it down. When I let it go, it floated up to the surface again. I then tried to pull it further down – there was nothing else to do, after all. The same thing happened again. I pulled it even further down the third time, only to see that the pixel started blinking and then disappeared. I understood by its movement that it had drowned. I felt guilty. I had drowned a pixel because I was inconsiderate. I had acted like a monkey, playing with things without considering the kind of damage I might be doing.