Search

This paper presents an evaluation of a serious Virtual Reality (VR) game designed to promote awareness and understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals among Higher Education students. The evaluation assesses user experience in terms of usability/playability, play engrossment, enjoyment and visual aesthetics of the VR environment. It also explores the onset of VR Sickness symptoms among users after their experience with the VR game. Players positively evaluated the game’s usability, its ability to engross them in gameplay, and the environment’s enjoyment and visuals. The results concerning VR sickness indicate that the game was generally well-received, while also highlighting areas where improvements could be implemented to mitigate the reported symptoms and further improve the user experience. The findings can inform future game-based endeavours supporting education for sustainable development.

This paper presents a case study on playing video games as a method to support the delivery of a game development University module, describing the teaching methodology and presenting details on a ’gaming‘ for learning approach to support the module’s learning objectives. It presents the formulation of a theoretical framework to evaluate students acceptance of playing video games as a learning method, and the results of a pilot study using a modified Technology Acceptance Model. The results revealed that gaming as a learning activity was positively perceived by students, finding this method engaging and relevant to their learning curriculum, playful, enjoyable, useful, easy to use, with positive attitudes and behavioural intentions to use. This pilot case study serves as a practical example of implementing video games to support learning, preparing the methodology for further research to understand students acceptance, and the effect on learning outcomes and knowledge acquisition.

This study explores the effect of Time Dilation Gameplay mechanic in a VR game and its impact on players’ subjective feeling of Presence, symptoms of VR sickness, and to their gaming performance. A comparative study was conducted using a VR First Person Shooter game prototype under two conditions: Normal Gameplay and with Time Dilation, manipulating the ingame time to almost complete standstill when the player stops moving. The results indicated that players in the Time Dilation Gameplay group experienced high degree of Presence comparable to those playing in Normal Gameplay condition, and yielded relatively lower levels of VR sickness, highlighting the need for further investigation on its potential impact on the domain. The players’ in-game performance between the two conditions was similar, but the Time Dilation mechanic impacted the way they were navigating and spatially exploring the environment, hence, considerations need to be made in the way tasks, levels, and interactions are designed. The main contributions of this paper are: i) insights on how Time Dilation affects players’ feeling of Presence in a VR game; ii) the impact of the mechanic on VR Sickness; and iii) its effect on player performance, providing valuable information for game developers and designers

This study investigated the effect of gamification on university students’ immersion, motivation, and cultural heritage learning in the context of a Virtual Reality (VR) learning environment. An experimental research design was adopted to analyze the experience of fortysix (n=46) undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to two conditions (Gamified / Non-gamified VR environment). Data were collected using pre- and post-learning assessments, immersion and motivation questionnaires. Analyses showed that students in the gamified VR learning environment experienced higher levels of attention and flow, reported greater perceived competence, and exhibited increased learning gains, in comparison to their counterparts who used the non-gamified VR environment. Moreover, higher and more positive correlations were identified between students’ immersion, motivation and learning in the gamified condition. The findings of this study can contribute to the principled design of VR environments to optimize students’ knowledge acquisition and learning experience.

Cultural heritage is an important part of our lives, forming our identities through our ancestral roots and social experiences. Preserving these cultural relationships and providing accessibility, availability and knowledge dissemination is paramount for societies to safeguard their history and evolve. Over the years, the cultural heritage sector has been supported by multiple technological innovations, helping to preserve, reconstruct and share historical information in multiple digital forms. As a result of the exponential advances in software, hardware and networking capabilities, and the introduction of emerging technologies such as Robotics, Immersive Technologies, Artificial Intelligence and others, the concept of Intelligent Reality drew a lot of research interest recently. This chapter focuses on emerging Intelligent Reality environments and how such systems can support and enhance experiencing cultural heritage, through a fusion of realities driven by technology and humans. It presents two experimental case studies currently at the forefront of research, that are designed and implemented in controlled laboratory environments to test their efficacy. Through these cases, the chapter explores how to create innovative ways for Cultural Heritage institutions to engage with the public in immersive ways that enable visitors to become present in parallel realities and experience cultural heritage in space and in time.

This paper assesses the feasibility of playtesting video games using immersive technologies as a method to support learning games development. It presents a study where university students and professional game developers collaborated in playtesting video games under development as part of the learning outcomes of their course. Data was collected investigating students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of playtesting as a learning method, the immersiveness of the experience, its value to learning, and to their professional awareness. The results of this research indicate that using video games and immersive technologies to support learning has promising potentials when utilised meaningfully and structured accordingly to meet specific learning objectives.

This chapter explores the concept of Digital Reality by reviewing its fundamentals including its history, technological components, and current trends. It discusses the broader components of a Digital Reality project and goes beyond the technological components by including business factors and related considerations. The chapter also identifies and discusses common challenges, examples of practical solutions and presents a generalized framework for how to approach Digital Reality projects. This includes how to manage the project, a summary of good practices, and key recommendations. Multiple examples are presented with use cases drawn from different disciplines. The chapter concludes with a summary of IEEE’s Digital Reality Exchange and the role it can play in Digital Reality projects.

This paper presents the development state of a Virtual Reality game to support cultural heritage through puzzle-based optical illusion gaming challenges. It is an immersive escape room type of game focusing on the cultural heritage of Cyprus, where players must complete a series of optical illusion challenges to progress, while learning historical information about key landmarks, monuments and objects of significant heritage to the Cypriot community. The main project objective is to bring together various archaeological artefacts in a virtual space and providing an immersive gaming experience to its users/visitors. The paper highlights the need for investigating the topic of VR gaming to support cultural heritage. It presents the development progress to date, including information on the digitisation process, environment design, and the mechanics of the VR game. Some of the future directions of the project are also presented.

This empirical study investigated how the use of a gamified versus a non-gamified Virtual Reality (VR) learning environment impacted student motivation and learning outcomes in the context of a virtual visit at a cultural heritage site. For this purpose, we adopted an experimental research design to analyse the experience of 46 undergraduate university students; 23 of them used a gamified version of the VR learning environment, while 23 of them used the same VR environment without the gamification elements. Data were collected using pre and post learning assessments, motivation questionnaires, as well as individual semistructured interviews. The data analyses showed that students who experienced the gamified VR learning environment had greater learning gains and perceived competence, as compared to their counterparts who used the VR environment without the gamification elements. The findings of this research contribute to the principled design of VR environments to optimize students' knowledge acquisition and learning experience.

This case study analyzed an IVR activity to understand (a) whether immersion reflects a subjective psychological process towards presence and flow or whether these states reflect objective properties of VR, as well as (b) the relation of immersion to learning. Data were collected with questionnaires, post-VR-activity interviews, and screen-recordings of the activity of two higher education students. Our findings supported a subjective nature of immersion as well as a positive relation to students’ learning.

The importance of preservation, accessibility and dissemination of Cultural Heritage is universally acknowledged, and the latest technological advancements in visualisation technologies such as Virtual Reality, and Serious VR Games in particular, have been increasingly utilised for innovation and application to support these efforts with great success. This paper presents the development and evaluation of a VR environment focusing on disseminating information on the Byzantine art of Panagia Aggeloktisti church in Cyprus, through an immersive learning scenario requiring users to complete challenges to progress while learning important historical information about the church. The paper presents information on the VR environment development, providing details on the process of capturing, processing and digitising in 3D models the exterior and several artefacts of the church. Two versions of the environment have been developed, featuring Gamified and non-Gamified components. The study presented in this paper compares and evaluates these versions through analysing users perceptions towards usability/playability, enjoyment and visual aesthetics of the environment. A comparative experimental study was conducted and the results revealed that the users’ experience was positively perceived regardless of interacting with the gamified elements of the environment or not during their VR experience. The results suggest that the VR environment was perceived usable/playable, enjoyable and with appealing graphics, and is at a stage to be used for public access and further experimentation. The paper also highlights the need for developing and extensively evaluating the efficacy of VR environments to provide immersive, engaging and enjoyable gamified and gaming experiences to embrace cultural heritage.

Intelligent Reality refers to the fusion of integrated technological innovations to develop complex computing systems aiming to blend the real with digital worlds and enable humans and machines to seamlessly work together leveraging each other’s strengths. This paper presents the results of a study evaluating the user experience of visiting an Intelligent Reality virtual museum prototype in terms of presence, technology acceptance, and environment perceptions, as a small-scale Cyber-Physical-Social Eco-System proof of concept. A virtual reality (VR) system was designed, and a real robot was placed in a technology museum to foster cyber-physical synchronisation, for users to visit and navigate in the environment. The study results revealed high degree of presence achieved by users in the VR world, with positive acceptance of technology and environment evaluation. Most importantly, the results highlighted the importance of presence in such systems and how it relates to acceptance and to the overall users’ perception of a VR world.

This paper presents initial findings from an empirical study utilising an intelligent virtual museum with the aim to explore its learning and engagement capability. The study investigates the participants’ experiences with the environment, their perceptions on its learning and engagement ability, and how they envision future learning scenarios with intelligent virtual environments. Participants found the system interesting, useful, and engaging. Suggestions for improvement highlighted technological, pedagogical, and social aspects which can guide further exploitation of such systems in education.

Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) requires not only technical safety but also a level of comfort for humans to ensure that humans and robots work and interact safely in the daily process flow. This paper presents a review of preliminary design considerations on how a robot arm can be controlled to explore various safe and personified movements in order to assess and improve legibility of robot performance in the presence of moving humans at home, industry, or any other environment.

This paper is a response concerning the implications of scholarship of the article entitled "A critical review of 13 years of mobile game-based learning" by Giannakas et al. (in Educ Technol Res Dev 66:341–384, 2018). This response focuses on the key ideas presented in Giannakas et al. (2018) from a practical perspective, highlighting how practitioners, scholars and designers can use their findings to effectively utilise mobile Game Based Learning (mBGL) approaches to support and enhance learning. This response paper is discussing the value, impact and practical implications of Giannakas, et al. (2018) and possible future directions relevant to the use of smartphone enabled virtual reality to support mGBL.

Since the shift from nomadic life, to aggregation in clusters or cities, humanity has faced epidemics. It is the cluster of people that provides the fertile environment for viruses to jump from one host to the next, generating an epidemic. The geographical distance among clusters is a barrier to the spread of the epidemics; traveling from one locale to another was the only way to continue the spread. In the past, the epidemics spread along the commerce, maritime, and land pathways. Travel was slow and sporadic so an epidemic took years to become a pandemic. Today we have both bigger clusters (megacities and cities that on average are much bigger than the ones of the past) and much faster and denser traffic among clusters. This fuels both epidemics and pandemics.