Time, Space and the Body in The Under Presents (2019), a Multiplayer Virtual Reality Game

This chapter explores the affective nature of narrative structures within the landmark multiplayer VR game featuring immersive theatre elements, The Under Presents (Tender Claws 2019). With reference to narrative theory for games, the chapter first interrogates the experience that The Under Presents offers, noting the project’s combination of linear story, improvised ‘live’ moments and open-world narrative elements. It then explores the player’s manipulation of time and space within the game world as an embodied activity mediated by the VR head-mounted display (HMD) and hand controllers. Further to identifying overlapping emotional or strategic spaces within the game world, the term ‘corporeal’ space is proposed to address the constituting role of the player’s body in the 360-degree VR environment. This concept reinforces the notion of a narrative journey that results from the player’s bodily interaction with spatial and temporal components.