Immersion in non-game Virtual Words
A.Kanamgotov, M.Conrad, S.Prakoonwit
INTRODUCTION
ORIGINALITY
In recent years virtual environments have
become a more and more prominent part of the
educator’s ‘toolbox’ to design and implement
student activities. While in the context of
(recreational) games immersion is an important
factor, the situation concerning educational
activities is less clear and we might question if
and how (see Figure 1) immersion happens when
users – in this case students at a university –
work in a virtual environment to perform a task
given to them as part of an assignment. Indeed it
was claimed in [1] that the lack of in-world
population and other context might lead to a
lack of immersion experienced by the users of
this virtual world. This research aims to
underpin this theoretical assumption.
Previous attempts to quantify immersion have
been pursued within the context of game virtual
worlds where there is a clear outline of a goal.
This research seeks to investigate the problem of
immersion measurement in an online based
virtual world where there is no distinct in-world
goal and environmental context is less
immersive as in a game environment. [2]
SIGNIFICANCE
users’
willingness
co-presence
& interactions
Immersion
content &
technical
features
use of avatars
Figure 1 [3]
interesting
activities
pleasant
activities
effective
activities
collaboration
Why immersion is important? A higher level of
immersion can lead to deeper understanding of
the material and learning motivation (see Figure
2) But how much immersion is enough? Is the
principle “more-better” applicable to this case?
The contribution of this work will fulfil the gap
in quantifying immersion in VR- subject which is
not covered properly yet as we believe.
Figure 2 [3]
learning
motivation
Immersion
engagement
REFERENCES:
1.
2.
3.
Conrad, M (2011); Leaving the Lindens: Teaching in Virtual Worlds of
Other Providers; Proceedings of ReLIVE 2011, Milton Keynes, UK.
Kanamgotov A., Christopoulos A., Conrad M., Prakoonwit A. (2012)
Immersion in Virtual Worlds - but not Second Life!; Proceedings of IEEE
CyberWorlds-2012, Darmstadt, Germany.
Christopoulos, A. (2011); Higher education in Virtual Worlds: The use of
Second Life and OpenSim for educational practices; MSc Thesis at UoB,
Luton, UK.