User Agency in Immersive Documentary: Narrative Models and the Transition Toward the Metaverse

Abstract

This study explores how user agency shapes the narrative, spatial, and emotional experience of immersive documentary in virtual reality (VR) and examines its implications for the evolution of documentary in metaverse environments. The main aim is to analyse how different levels of agency configure user experience and anticipate emerging narrative forms. A qualitative approach is adopted, based on the direct observation of three VR documentary experiences – Mission: ISS, Anne Frank House VR, and Home After War – using a structured analytical framework focused on levels of agency, interaction, and presence. The findings identify three distinct models of participation: active exploration, guided exploration, and immersive observation. These models show that the degree of user control shapes the structure of the experience, the opportunities for meaning-making, and the ways in which emotional engagement is invited. The study argues that immersive documentary operates as a narrative laboratory in which different configurations of agency and storytelling are tested. In this context, agency emerges as a key element in redefining the role of the spectator as an active participant. Furthermore, the results suggest that current VR documentary practices anticipate future developments in the metaverse, where immersive experiences are expected to become persistent, social, and multiuser, expanding the possibilities of documentary as an experiential and participatory medium.