Internship In The Afterlife

This project was developed for the XR 5020: Developing XR course taught by Professor Wallace Lages at Northeastern University by Komi (Jingren Ma), Namrata Mahesh Shajwani, and Tomme Denney.

Internship in the Afterlife is an immersive, gamified VR experience designed to explore the emotional challenges of navigating unfamiliar languages. By fostering empathy and inclusivity, the experience places players in a metaphorical afterlife where their linguistic skills—or lack thereof—determine their ultimate fate. Inspired by the real-world struggles of international students, tourists, and immigrants, the game sensitizes players to the complexities and emotional impact of language barriers.

Players engage with a mysterious box containing syllables of a foreign word. After a brief glimpse of the complete word, they must reconstruct it in the correct order from memory to progress. Failure results in being metaphorically “sent to hell,” symbolizing the high-stakes pressures of making critical decisions in an unfamiliar linguistic environment. As the game progresses, challenges become increasingly complex, involving multiple languages and more intricate words.

Internship in the Afterlife invites participants to experience the alienation and determination required to navigate a world where language becomes a puzzle, fostering understanding and compassion for those who face such barriers in their daily lives.