AnAI-basedsocialVRsimulationthatprovidesfoodforthoughtonanimalrightsthroughimmersivestorytellingandemotionallyencouragesuserstoreflect.
Client
PETA
Industry
Public Sector and Non-Profit
Services
Technical ConsultingUX DesignVisual DesignSoftware DevelopmentDevOpsProducing
An AI-supported VR experience awakens empathy for animal rights.
Conventional education rarely reaches the heart.
Education about animal rights often remains abstract and shows limited behavioral impact. Our goal was to create deep emotional reflection through an immersive format and to measurably increase engagement, measured by completion rate, duration of stay, and qualitative user feedback. The target audience consisted of curious, somewhat skeptical VR users in the Meta Quest environment.
When They Came For Us is a seven-minute narrative social VR simulation where conversational AI drives the dialogues. Deliverables include story design, LLM integration, multilingual support, a 360° environment, and publication in the Meta Quest Store. For model training, approximately 250 million input and output tokens were used, and the compact format achieved high emotional resonance and media interest.
The experience places players in a powerful perspective.
In a deliberately sterile 360° environment, players experience a kidnapping scenario that reflects power dynamics and makes the perspective of the disenfranchised tangible. Navigating without controllers, they engage in voice-based conversations with an AI alien, whose responses are guided by PETA-oriented prompt briefings.
Conversational AI makes the experience personal and dynamic.
ChatGPT-4o delivers adaptive, credible NPC dialogues that enable conversations based on PETA values. The process and implementation followed Discover → Prototype → Build → Launch. The implementation in Unity with OpenXR and Meta support, as well as multilingual support through ElevenLabs, ensured technical stability and global accessibility. The key learning: Narrative control plus controlled AI variability generate the strongest emotional impact.
The prototype was iteratively tested with users, prompt fine-tuning and an evaluation scale ensured consistent, meaningful dialogues. After the launch, the experience serves as an advocacy tool that initiates conversations, awakens empathy, and acts as a blueprint for further AI-supported awareness formats.
Immersive narratives can influence behavior and attitudes in the long term.
Collaboration with PETA shows that immersive, AI-supported formats address where facts alone are not enough. 'When They Came For Us' combines narrative closeness with adaptive AI and offers a scalable method to awaken empathy, initiate discussions, and set new standards for impact-oriented VR advocacy.