Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Survival Horror Games for the Emotional Elicitation: Preliminary Insights Using Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

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Survival horror games played in virtual reality can trigger intense fright and anxiety in the players. Such unique characteristics can thus be exploited not only as a source of entertainment, but also as a tool for both emotion elicitation and emotional training. However, studies investigating the players’ experience and the emotional activation while playing virtual reality video games are still very limited and horror games represent an even more limited number of these. Within this context, this study was aimed to compare a horror game Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, experienced through virtual reality as opposed to a non-immersive display modality (i.e. console system), and exploring differences in the usability and the emotional activation. In order to answer to such objectives, the game was played by a sample of 26 young adults, half of which played using Playstation VR, while the other half through a more traditional non-immersive console setup (PS4 Pro). The usability and the emotional impact of the game was assessed through self-report questionnaires and the recording of physiological indexes (heart rate, skin conductance response). Results showed that: (a) playing a horror video game in virtual reality was not more difficult than playing in a non-immersive display modality; (b) players showed an increased perceived anxiety both after playing the horror video game in virtual reality and playing in a non-immersive display modality; interestingly, the perceived sense of happiness significantly increased only after playing in virtual reality; finally the sense of presence resulted to be greater in virtual reality as opposed to the non-immersive condition.