Background
This story depicts the life journey of a tree, from a seed to a towering tree, through the use of VR technology that allows the player to experience it from the tree’s perspective. These trees experiences countless day and night cycles and seasonal changes, some growing into centennial trees, while others dying due to natural disasters such as snow or fire. However, behind the tree’s death, there lie countless new lives and hopes. We introduced the concept of the “tree network,” which we believe represents the exchange and cycle of life. When a tree dies, its body returns to the earth and becomes a source of nutrition for millions of bacteria, insects, plants, and other organisms, injecting new vitality into the ecosystem.
In the story, the player experiences the seasonal changes and sees various forms of life in the forest, becoming the mother tree of the forest. Eventually, the tree dies in a forest fire, but before its death, it transfers its nutrition to other small trees in the forest through the tree network, allowing the player to experience the cycle and exchange of life. At the end of the story, the player is reborn on a small tree that has received the nutrition from the giant tree, becoming a new life. Through the use of VR technology, the player can immerse themselves in the connections and cycles of life, allowing them to better understand and appreciate the natural ecosystem.
The significance behind this story is to emphasize the continuation and inheritance of life. Trees represent the continuation of life, and their growth process highlights the complexity of interconnectivity between all things. Through the “tree network” concept, we emphasize the interdependence and interactive relationship between all things, as well as the unending cycle of life. Only by understanding the cycle of life and interdependence between all living beings can one fully appreciate the meaning behind the continuation and inheritance of life.
Wood Wide Web（Mycorrhizal network）
Mycorrhizal networks are intricate underground structures that are present in forests and other plant communities. They are formed through the interweaving of hyphae from mycorrhizal fungi with plant roots, creating a common mycorrhizal network (CMN). These networks enable the transfer of vital resources, such as water, carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients and minerals, between connected plants. Scientific research has shown that mycorrhizal networks play a significant role in nutrient transport within ecosystems(Yuan Yuansong ,2015). Evidence that mycorrhizal fungal mycelia can link plants together in a network, and that this mycorrhizal network (MN) can facilitate fungal colonization or interplant transfer of compounds (Suzanne W. Simard a, Kevin J. Beiler b, Marcus A. Bingham a, Julie R. Deslippe c, Leanne J. Philip d, François P. Teste e 2012.).
