Abstract
This paper puts forward a set of strategies for designing queer experiences for virtual reality. First, the paper will outline The Body Traces Archive VR experience, the primary practice-based outcome of my doctoral research. This will be followed by a discussion of the medium of virtual reality and three industry-standard design norms that serve to limit and foreclose the possibilities of virtual reality: militaristic mastery and control, seamless (dis)embodiment, and prioritisation of comfort. For each industry standard norm, I propose a queer counter-strategy that works to re-align VR towards other possibilities. In turn, they are: utopian worldbuilding, embodiment via friction, and working with discomfort. Each counter-strategy is presented with examples from the Body Traces Archive, showing how queer approaches can be implemented in practice in order to work towards queerer virtual worlds for us to inhabit.
Keywords
Virtual Reality, Embodiment, Queering, Queer Methodology
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1155
Citation
Chalmers Braithwaite, A. (2026) Imperfect utopias: Norms in VR design and queer counter-strategies, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1155
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Imperfect utopias: Norms in VR design and queer counter-strategies
This paper puts forward a set of strategies for designing queer experiences for virtual reality. First, the paper will outline The Body Traces Archive VR experience, the primary practice-based outcome of my doctoral research. This will be followed by a discussion of the medium of virtual reality and three industry-standard design norms that serve to limit and foreclose the possibilities of virtual reality: militaristic mastery and control, seamless (dis)embodiment, and prioritisation of comfort. For each industry standard norm, I propose a queer counter-strategy that works to re-align VR towards other possibilities. In turn, they are: utopian worldbuilding, embodiment via friction, and working with discomfort. Each counter-strategy is presented with examples from the Body Traces Archive, showing how queer approaches can be implemented in practice in order to work towards queerer virtual worlds for us to inhabit.