Visualization and Interaction in Immersive Virtual Reality Games: A User Evaluation Study

Abstract

Digital game industry is one of main sectors of the global media and entertainment market, and according to Netscribes Gaming Market Research, it is expected a significant growth (18.98%) by 2023. In the same way, Virtual Reality (VR) is gradually more accessible, which has enabled applying it in different areas besides research, such as training, therapy, marketing and entertainment. However, there is still little research investigating the potentials of VR immersive digital games. In this work, a First-Person Shooter (FPS) VR game was developed and evaluated with the aim to contribute with the improvement of VR game experiences. To evaluate sense of presence, performance, degree of fun and comfort in the game experience, a controlled within-subjects experiment was performed. The study hypothesized that, using immersive visualization and more natural interaction, the sense of presence is increased and the player can have a better game experience. The user’s evaluation results suggested that immersive VR game requires more natural and intuitive interaction and, as a result, can induce increased presence and fun. However, further research is needed to determine the results in a larger sample and other immersive game genres.