Wayfinding in Virtual Reality Serious Game: An Exploratory Study in the Context of User Perceived Experiences

Extended reality (XR) technologies such as virtual reality (VR) provide a promising alternative for training users through serious games (SGs). VR SGs allow people to train in emergency scenarios and improve their likelihood of survival in high-risk situations. Studies have shown that incorporating...

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Main Authors: Shafaq Irshad, Andrew Perkis, Waleed Azam
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/17/7822
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author Shafaq Irshad
Andrew Perkis
Waleed Azam
author_facet Shafaq Irshad
Andrew Perkis
Waleed Azam
author_sort Shafaq Irshad
collection DOAJ
description Extended reality (XR) technologies such as virtual reality (VR) provide a promising alternative for training users through serious games (SGs). VR SGs allow people to train in emergency scenarios and improve their likelihood of survival in high-risk situations. Studies have shown that incorporating design elements such as wayfinding cues enhances the spatial knowledge of users in VR. However, the impact of these wayfinding cues on users’ psychological and psychometric behaviors needs thorough investigation. An SG was designed to investigate wayfinding cues’ psychological and psychometric effects on user-perceived experiences in an immersive VR environment. Thirty-nine participants experienced three variants of the VR SG using Oculus Rift- S. Participants in the control condition were exposed to the VR with no wayfinding cues, and the experimental groups were exposed to VR with static and dynamic wayfinding cues. Results showed that VR SG with wayfinding cues induced less tension, challenge, and negative affects in users’ overall perceived experience. Similarly higher positive affects were observed for the experimental groups with wayfinding cues. It was interesting to observe that there were no significant effects of wayfinding on competence, flow, and immersion; however, heart rate was significantly high in the control group. These findings suggest that wayfinding cues can promote the users perceived quality of experience in the VR.
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spelling doaj.art-17ce79eb9b3f489682263cab3ad7d46d2023-11-22T10:16:57ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172021-08-011117782210.3390/app11177822Wayfinding in Virtual Reality Serious Game: An Exploratory Study in the Context of User Perceived ExperiencesShafaq Irshad0Andrew Perkis1Waleed Azam2Department of Electronic Systems, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, NorwayDepartment of Electronic Systems, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, NorwayDepartment of Electronic Systems, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, NorwayExtended reality (XR) technologies such as virtual reality (VR) provide a promising alternative for training users through serious games (SGs). VR SGs allow people to train in emergency scenarios and improve their likelihood of survival in high-risk situations. Studies have shown that incorporating design elements such as wayfinding cues enhances the spatial knowledge of users in VR. However, the impact of these wayfinding cues on users’ psychological and psychometric behaviors needs thorough investigation. An SG was designed to investigate wayfinding cues’ psychological and psychometric effects on user-perceived experiences in an immersive VR environment. Thirty-nine participants experienced three variants of the VR SG using Oculus Rift- S. Participants in the control condition were exposed to the VR with no wayfinding cues, and the experimental groups were exposed to VR with static and dynamic wayfinding cues. Results showed that VR SG with wayfinding cues induced less tension, challenge, and negative affects in users’ overall perceived experience. Similarly higher positive affects were observed for the experimental groups with wayfinding cues. It was interesting to observe that there were no significant effects of wayfinding on competence, flow, and immersion; however, heart rate was significantly high in the control group. These findings suggest that wayfinding cues can promote the users perceived quality of experience in the VR.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/17/7822virtual realityserious gamesexended realitytraining simulationsuser studiesspatial information
spellingShingle Shafaq Irshad
Andrew Perkis
Waleed Azam
Wayfinding in Virtual Reality Serious Game: An Exploratory Study in the Context of User Perceived Experiences
Applied Sciences
virtual reality
serious games
exended reality
training simulations
user studies
spatial information
title Wayfinding in Virtual Reality Serious Game: An Exploratory Study in the Context of User Perceived Experiences
title_full Wayfinding in Virtual Reality Serious Game: An Exploratory Study in the Context of User Perceived Experiences
title_fullStr Wayfinding in Virtual Reality Serious Game: An Exploratory Study in the Context of User Perceived Experiences
title_full_unstemmed Wayfinding in Virtual Reality Serious Game: An Exploratory Study in the Context of User Perceived Experiences
title_short Wayfinding in Virtual Reality Serious Game: An Exploratory Study in the Context of User Perceived Experiences
title_sort wayfinding in virtual reality serious game an exploratory study in the context of user perceived experiences
topic virtual reality
serious games
exended reality
training simulations
user studies
spatial information
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/17/7822
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