VR-Compassion Cultivation Training

VR-CCT Dataset

Compassion Island was a social world implemented in
AltspaceVR by tecchnology collaborators Origami Air.
It was specifically created for the study of VR-based
augmentation of compassion cultivation training (CCT).
It featured three main settings – a meditation hall,
a garden courtyard with a large willow tree, and a
clinic. During experimental sessions, participants
interacted with two characters in these spaces,
represented as avatars – namely, a guide, who helped
the volunteer navigate from setting to setting and
offered other assistance as needed, and Ivan, who was
an agitated patient in the clinic. Both characters
were animated by live actors in separate locations.
Participants were able to converse freely with these
characters whenever they were co-present with either
character in the same space. All sessions began in the
meditation hall, which featured a pulsating orb
designed to help participants regulate their breathing
during an audio-recorded guided meditation. Next,
participants were ushered outside to the garden, where
they were invited to contemplate a tree with a glowing
core while listening to an audio-recorded compassion
meditation and performing visualization exercises that
centered on universal compassion for all beings.
Lastly, participants were directed into a virtual
clinic to converse with Ivan, an agitated patient
waiting inside the clinic, where participants would
have the opportunity to practice exercising the
feeling of universal compassion from the garden
meditation.