Planes: A Collaborative VR Puzzle Journey to Promote Social Unity and Learning
Planes is a multi-user VR experience that facilitates anonymous teamwork, exploration and paper puzzle-solving to help intertwine collaboration and learning. It came from a desire to fulfill a novel gaming experience that promotes non-discriminatory, anonymous participation to subversively mitigate social isolation in VR, challenge social barriers in gaming and promote ludic play for collaborative problem solving and learning.
The game is broken down into three digital origami puzzles where each puzzle incorporates paper folding methods to make paper planes, and players can collaborate with each other via online networking to solve the puzzles faster. However, the only way players can communicate is with VR hand models that demonstrate gestures, and therefore players are fully anonymous. Upon completion of the puzzles, players are sent an ID number for a virtual workshop via the Zoom app, where they would meet their collaborators and construct physical paper planes together at home.