Non-linear interactive story-telling in which the guest plays a title role is a much talked about up-and-coming entertainment medium. One of the large obstacles in the path of this new medium is the following question: how can we direct the guest along the path of our story when they are presented with an unlimited number of choices?

For example, an interactive version of "The Wizard of Oz" becomes a short and uninteresting story is the guest (Dorthy) chooses to immediately run to the safety of the storm cellar; thus missing her trip to OZ.

The Rat Maze of VR is a neutral environment with which, our own and future story-telling techniques can be explored. We want to be able to freely experiment with ways to get specific responses, be they physical or emotional, from guests in a virtual reality environment.

The rat maze is constructed such that the guests are placed in an immersive environment, upon which "performers" execute their techniques. The guest is placed inside an HMD, and the "performers" are seated at computers which control the guest's environment. The performers then attempt to guide the guest through the maze with a library of manipulation techniques. The effectiveness of an individual technique is gauged by the guest's response.