Experience "The Ripper"

Written by Elle Luxford

Edited by Maxim Parker

The unsolved case of Jack the Ripper is perhaps the most infamous series of murders in the UK, and the killer remains unidentified. Jack the Ripper’s murders took place in 1888 throughout the borough of Whitechapel, London, and mainly focused on prostitutes–the Ripper’s brutal butcherings were savage, and they led the London detectives on a wild goose chase.

This VR Experience takes you through the borough of Whitechapel where you can explore the crime scenes themselves, learn about the victims, and even read the letters Jack the Ripper sent to detectives. As you explore, you will find out more and more information, and perhaps even reach your own conclusions about who Jack the Ripper was. Armed with a notebook and a comprehensive guide, you are all set to stand on the front lines against England’s most notorious serial killers.

REASONS FOR USING VR:

VR has been used for educational purposes in places such as NASA and the Army, so why not use it for history too? The streets of Whitechapel in 1888 are completely different to the ones there today, so by using VR we are able to transport the player directly into that location without them having to leave the comfort of their own home. ‘3D environments are instruments, and if properly exploited they stand to provide historians with substantial gains in their capacity to teach, represent, and analyse the past’ (Bonnet, John; 2003). By constructing virtual locations, we are not only able to represent the layout but also the environment itself, fleshing out the historical world and allowing players to be more receptive to the experience.

There are several walking tours in London that surround the Jack the Ripper murders, and they range between £10 and £30, though there have been some issues with congestion around specific sites (‘many other tours with the same itinerary that the talk was continually interrupted’ (Reviewer on TripAdvisor, 2015)). By offering a VR experience, we are able to eliminate these problems entirely–not only that, but you will be able to move through the space at your own pace, picking up and identifying clues, and having a much more in-depth experience surrounding the murders. VR is the only way you can truly be transported back to Whitechapel, 1888.

A key aspect of most VR Experiences is how the VR interacts with the player, and what impact the player can have on the environment in turn. Agency is ‘a fundamental craving of human nature, and by incorporating it into games, the satisfaction of the experience increases’ (Tanderup, Stefan; 2019), and Experience: The Ripper aims to have the player be actively involved in exploring the crimes by navigating the scenes, reading the letters, finding evidence, and keeping a log of potential suspects. This, in turn, should boost the satisfaction and engagement of the player.

REFERENCES:

BONNET, John. 2003. Journal of The Association for History and Computing. Michigan; MPublishing. (https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jahc;view=text;rgn=main;idno=3310410.0006.202 )

TANDERUP, Stefan Hvarregaard. 2019. Player Agency in Virtual Reality–Comparison of Scripted and Meaningful Interactions. Aalborg; Aalborg University. https://projekter.aau.dk/projekter/files/306334567/Med_10_Thesis_setup_2_.pdf

TRIPADVISOR. 2015. Review of Jack the Ripper Tour-Discovery Tours. TripAdvisor; 2023. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186338-d1022180-r323126600-Jack_the_Ripper_Tour_Discovery_Tours-London_England.html