UNHOME – Apart from Society

The VR game UNHOME – Apart from Society. A virtual reality experience about homelessness. provides a respectful insight into the issue of homelessness and the challenges it poses for those affected. At the beginning of the 20-minute VR experience, players are confronted with various misfortunes, such as losing their job and subsequently being evicted by their landlord. The following sequences immersively address everyday challenges and threatening situations for homeless people. Players must hold out their hands to ask passers-by for money or rummage through rubbish bins for deposit bottles, while derogatory comments from those around them trigger feelings of anxiety. The game conveys various facts about homelessness in Germany (such as the daily donations required or the reasons for the barriers to sleeping in shelters) and, thanks to the VR environment, ensures that the players feel a sense of empathy.
The game’s impact, which encourages players to reflect on their own behaviour and views on homelessness and social injustice, is considered particularly high and represents an enrichment for the genre.