XR Ritual Memory

Digitally mediated attachment is increasingly common, yet many online relationships and companion-like bonds lack meaningful structures for saying goodbye.

XR Ritual Memory explores how digital farewell design can support symbolic closure and emotional processing without relying only on text messages or passive memorial browsing.

To keep the study ethically manageable, the project uses a mediated pet-mourning scenario as a proxy context for digitally formed attachment and loss.

The project compares three farewell modalities: observational messaging, a participatory 2D memorial website, and a 6-DoF VR ritual environment.

The VR prototype turns farewell into a sequence of embodied actions, including entering the memorial hall, following ritual instructions, revisiting prior moments, offering incense or bows, viewing memorial objects, and presenting a symbolic gift.

This structure lets the team test participatory agency and immersive presence as separate but related design factors in digital mourning experiences.

Preliminary findings suggest that active participation strengthens symbolic closure, while immersive embodiment heightens presence and emotional salience.

The study indicates that higher immersion does not automatically produce stronger closure; rather, closure appears to depend on well-structured participatory affordances within the farewell sequence.

For the lab, the project now serves as a design probe for ritualized interfaces, digital remembrance, and how XR can support emotionally significant transitions.