In real life Pat Parker probably wouldn’t be jumping up and down, under the stars, shouting “Wee!” and sporting a gigantic set of butterfly wings. She’s 81 years old, after all.
But in VR, she can do that and more. Parker is part of an online community called Thrive Pavilion, tucked inside the vast virtual reality (VR) game called Meta Horizon Worlds.
Dean Tudor from Bloomington helped create that community. It’s for seniors like Parker, to help them stave off social isolation, meet other people, and just have some fun.
“It’s very interesting to see an 80-year-old person who’s never used a computer all of a sudden talking like a 12-year-old who plays Fortnite all the time. It’s wonderful,” Tudor said.
Tudor is a creator. He builds worlds that VR users explore and socialize in.
“I’ve made a whole slew of things. From that senior community to a Star Trek world. An island beach in the middle of an ocean. I’ve made a space world where you can jump out of a spaceship into zero G and fight each other. I made something that was a dream I had of a house built in giant trees in a giant forest,” Tudor said.
For Tudor, it's an unmatched form of personal expression. But he also sees it serving a greater good.
Many older adults struggle with social isolation, long before COVID came along. There’s a small but growing body of evidence that VR could help.
“People see this as a gaming console. And it’s great at being a gaming console. It’s very impressive. But it’s more of a communication tool. That’s what we’re getting into with this,” Tudor said.
Science is starting to show optimism too.
Ryan Moore is a researcher at Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, which studies virtual and augmented reality. Moore and his partners just published a study of hundreds of older adults in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, asking them how they felt after trying out VR. They really enjoyed it, and so did the caregiving staff.
“Many of the caregivers reported having conversations with the seniors about what they did in VR, and how it connected to other things they’ve done in their life – places they’ve traveled, animals they used to have,” Moore said.
Older adults are not a monolith. A 65-year-old is different than a 95-year-old. Moore’s study found VR enjoyment tended to fade the older someone was. But there were indications that the leap to VR was less intimidating than, say, using a smart phone.
“When it’s done right, it’s very natural. If you want to get closer to something, you move your head. If you want to grab something or interact with something, you move your arm. Those ways that VR is a natural extension of the way we already interact with the offline may make it a more natural medium,” Moore said.
Conventional wisdom is that older adults aren't good with technology. And that may be true for some with two-dimensional technology like smart phones and tablets, which are built on abstractions, according to Robert Signore of North Carolina. He’s the founder of Thrive Pavilion.
Signore said an immersive three-dimensional space is different.
“Like, we’re talking about the generation that sent people to the moon. Invented color television and radio and cars. They’re great with technology,” Signore said.
Signore spent a career in software, including for retirement communities. He launched Thrive almost two years ago as a nonprofit. Think of it like a senior center. It's free, with about 1,000 members, with around a dozen activities every week. There are monthly birthday parties, a book club, and cards and games.
Signore said hopefully there's something for everybody.
“The goal really is to build human connections and to allow people to socialize from home,” he said.
There are barriers to more widespread VR use among older adults. The VR headsets are a few hundred dollars, at least. And you need Wi-Fi. It would be challenging for those with significant vision or tactile problems.
“We do have members who are bedridden or double amputees who participate. Some of those who are bedridden or significantly wheelchair-bound, even outside of Thrive, this is how they get the majority of their socialization done,” Signore said.
One of the Thrive community members is Elena Kaye, 66, of Los Angeles. She doesn’t drive and is living on limited funds with her 91-year-old husband. Then COVID hit.
“As the shutdown continued, I was like, uh! I can’t travel. I don’t have my yoga center to go to anymore. I was starting to feel a little stir crazy,” Kaye said.
So she picked up VR. She logs on about three days a week, including visits to Thrive.
She made friends in a women's group. Real friends.
“Some of the women I just started to fall in love with their souls, so much,” Kaye said.
Last summer Kaye traveled to Ireland (in real life) for a yoga retreat. She decided to swing by England and see some of those VR friends in person.
“It’s not a feeling of being separated from the rest of life when I’m in VR. It’s just completely enhancing in both directions,” she said.
If this catches on, people like Dean Tudor from Bloomington will be busy creating more worlds for more seniors. Tudor, an Army veteran, is also the founder of The Creator Society – what he calls a sort of Chamber of Commerce for Meta Horizon Worlds.
“We’ve seen it turn around lives. We’ve seen it take people from barely holding on, essentially, to thriving. Which is why we call it Thrive,” Tudor said.
