How does UX design match with virtual reality to affect the success in UX of video gaming?

Running head: HOW DOES UX DESIGN MATCH WITH VIRTUAL REALITY

How does UX design match with virtual reality to affect the success in user experiences of video gaming?

Cynthia Chong DePaul University

Author Note Cynthia Chong, DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM).

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Abstract This paper explores nine published articles that discuss the relationship between the users and the virtual reality in video gaming. The articles vary from providing the literature review to evaluate the methodology of virtual reality video gaming. Numerous studies are used to examine how the user interface and user experience design in virtual reality will impact users’ gameplay experiences and cognitive behaviors in video gaming. Through the lens of HCI, user gameplay experiences and interactions in virtual reality video gaming will be studied in different aspects as opposed to the traditional video gaming in order to discover the potential development of virtual reality.

Keywords: Virtual reality (VR), video gaming, user experience (UX), user interface (UI), interaction design, gameplay experience (GX), game satisfaction, user behaviors

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How does UX design match with virtual reality to affect the success in user experiences of video gaming?

Virtual reality (VR) is a trendy innovative technology emerging in video games, which offers immersive embodied gameplay experience (GX) to users. It is an alternative platform for entertainment or learning purposes apart from traditional video games. This paper discusses the UX design that is employed in virtual reality and evaluates how UI and UX play an important role in game satisfaction. What are the changes in performances, emotions, and behaviors when the users are shifting from traditional screen to virtual reality? How are the users benefiting from virtual reality? The gameplay user experience (GX) in virtual reality will be compared with traditional gaming from different perspectives and then will be analyzed by using both qualitative and quantitative data, as well as combing visual information.

Literature Review What is Virtual Reality?

This section defines virtual reality and gives examples that are related to virtual reality.

Virtual Reality. Pallavicini et al. (2019) introduced VR as an immersive technology that offers a real-time three-dimensional virtual environment (VE) for users to interact in an experimental condition. The three-dimensional virtual environment can be enriched by graphics, audio, and user’s feedback (Yildirim et al., 2018). Shelstad et al. (2017) stated that the screen for video gaming is no longer limited by computers or laptops, but a head-mounted display (HMD) for virtual reality instead. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are the two most common VR headsets, and other headsets included Google Daydream, Samsung Galaxy Gear VR, and Sony PlayStation (Yildirim et al., 2018). The headset is used to keep track of the users’ head motion in the fictional world.

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Current Trend of Virtual Reality This section discusses the financial benefits and target users of virtual reality.

Virtual Reality Sales. VR is engaging popularly in the entertainment industry in recent years, and a variety of VR video games has launched into the gaming market with increasing commercial and sales. According to Pallavicini et al. (2019), the sales of the VR headsets were exceeded over 6 million units and the sales of VR games were ranging from 1,000 to 50,000 in 2017. Both Yildirim et al. (2018) and Shelstad et al. (2017) reported that there were over 30.4 billion dollars has been spent on video games in 2017 generally, which VR contributed a great amount of those dollars since it is relatively expensive. Shelstad et al. (2017) explained that the significant figures of sales were because of the first commercial released of VR in 2016. About 16% of video games support VR, and 83% of those video games required a VR headset in order to play.

Virtual Reality Consumers. According to the research of Entertainment Software Association (2017) in Shelstad et al. (2017), it reported that there were 65% of U.S. households had at least one family member play video games regularly and 67% of them are willing to buy a decent game console. Besides, about 63% of video game players were male and the average age is 35.

Impact of User Experience in Virtual Reality This section discusses how the UI and UX design of virtual reality influence the GX in video games. Moreover, it studied the factors and methodology that affect the success of user experience in virtual reality video games.

The Design of User Interfaces and User Experience in Virtual Reality. Rebelo et al.

(2012) stated that UX design has integrated into VR to understand the emotions and satisfaction

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of gamers. The human-computer interaction (HCI) research approaches in the application since the VR involved the interaction between a user and a product. When considering UX, Rebelo et al. (2012) mentioned it is not only about the user's emotional response, but also their physiological behaviors during the interaction. On the other hand, Coomans et al. (1997) listed the user interface elements presented in VR, including User interaction, immersion (sensory and full body), simulation (visual, acoustic, and haptic), and visualization (making information visualize).

Gameplay User Experience (GX). VR arouses emotional changes of gamers and thus enhances the user’s conscious GX in the game. The virtual environment content is a stimulus that provides strong in-game satisfaction to the users. Additionally, the high entertaining sense of being in the game would enhance the attention and in-game performance of gamers, which leads to a greater emotional response (Pallavicini et al., 2019). The display type plays an important role in the engagement and sense of presence in the game.

Factors that Influence Gameplay User Experience. By referring to Yildirim et al.

(2018), there are three main factors affecting the GX of gamers, including involvement, immersion, and display. From the above mentioned, the involvement of the gamers would be highly affected by the virtual perceptions from the fictional world in the game. Moreover, the virtualization from VE would affect the sensory capacity of the gamers, which they will feel immersive with the natural atmosphere. Lastly, the display type of VR would affect the enjoyment of gamers during the game. By comparing the traditional computer screen and the head-mounted display, gamers are able to perceive more depth of sense in the VE with HMD. The advanced development of VR technology is able to provide gamers a greater gameplay satisfaction level.

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Methodology Used to Evaluate User Gameplay Experience in Virtual Reality. To evaluate the GX in VR, the common method reported by Shelstad et al. (2017) is playtesting.

Similar to usability testing, researchers would ask for user feedback with questionnaires and using the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS) (see table 1 in appendix) to examine the user gaming satisfaction in different aspects. Yildirim et al. (2018) examined the game UX satisfaction by having the gamers self-report their game UX satisfaction, then measured the scale with GUESS. By using the GUESS, the researchers can fully understand the impact of VR to users in video games and how the user experience of VR headsets contribute to the GX of the gamers. Apart from GUESS, another evaluating method applied by Pallavicini et al. (2019) was Slater-Usoh-Steed Presence Questionnaire (SUS-II) (Slater et al. 1994). Last but not least, Alistair et al. (2004) used the Heuristic evaluation (see table 2 in appendix) to explore the correspondence relationship between the VE and the GX. Discussion Virtual Reality Game and Traditional Game This section compares the GX of immersive and non-immersive video games with statistic data supported by several playtesting.

Gameplay User Satisfaction Comparison. Based on the results from Shelstad et al.

(2017), video game testing with VR headsets generated a higher satisfaction score compared to a traditional computer monitor. According to the satisfaction subscales (see figure 1 and table 3 in appendix), players found using VR headsets have higher engrossment, enjoyment, creative freedom, and better visual and audio aesthetic. The head movement provided higher immersive satisfaction and control for the players. According to the report from Pallavicini et al. (2019), game testing with VR provided higher SUS-II mean scores, which is a 27.1 with a 6.61 SD while

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traditional desktop has 16.42 scores with a 6.05 SD. As the results, players received a higher level of sense of presence in VR. The immersive game allowed players to be involved in more intense GX through cognitive stimulation than non-immersive games. To conclude, there was an emotional connection while the players were engaging in the VR video game.

Limitations in Virtual Reality This section discusses the limitations and drawbacks of virtual reality in three aspects.

Demographics limitations. Since VR is a new technology that developed rapidly in recent years, not everyone has the opportunity to experience or even hear of VR yet. Based on the demographic report in Shelstad et al. (2017), most of the players are male, and gender differences could affect the testing results due to their psychology and physical discrepancies.

Age differences would be another possible demographic limitation that affects the performances of the players, such as younger players will have a higher activity level.

Technology limitations. Rebelo et al. (2012) stated that due to the limitation of technology development, VR might not fully develop in the gaming industry. Besides, the cost of the VR headset would affect the quality of the user research if the researchers could not afford better VR technology to conduct the playtesting. The technical issues like motion delay or lowquality screen display would be harmful to the testing results as well.

Physical limitations. Rebelo et al. (2012) addressed the health and safety concerns in VR. VR and VE could arouse physical sicknesses, such as cybersickness (CS), simulator sickness (SS), and motion sickness (MS). The symptoms included eye strain, headache, or vomiting. All of these sicknesses may occur after participating in VR, and negatively affect the emotions and performance of players.

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Conclusion and Future Study Summary and Future Implantations This section summarizes the highlights of the literature reviews and discussion, then addresses the potential development of VR in the future.

The Relationship of User Experience and Virtual Reality. The design of UI and UX in VR is strongly associated with each other. VE, user’s self-report satisfaction level, and the VR context are great evaluation elements to examine the GX. The designed task or controlled environment based on real-world settings help researchers explore interesting findings from VR. It is essential to conduct playtesting to evaluate the impact of user experience in VR. Ways to overcome the limitations. Since some of the limitations are identified as natural responses of human beings, it may be challenging for the researchers to solve the problems. In the meanwhile, the VR technology is developing rapidly, there may be alternative applications can integrate with VR to destress the issues. Lastly, through HCI researches and studies, a fixed methodology framework may help improve the UI and UX of VR.

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References Pallavicini, Federica & Pepe, Alessandro & Minissi, Maria Eleonora. (2019). Gaming in Virtual Reality: What Changes in Terms of Usability, Emotional Response and Sense of Presence Compared to Non-Immersive Video Games? Simulation & Gaming.

C. Yildirim, M. Carroll, D. Hufnal, T. Johnson and S. Pericles, Video Game User Experience: To VR, or Not to VR? 2018 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM), Galway, 2018, pp. 1-9.

Rebelo, Francisco & Noriega, Paulo & Duarte, Emília & Soares, Marcelo. (2012). Using Virtual Reality to Assess User Experience. Human factors. 54.

Shelstad, William & Smith, Dustin & Chaparro, Barbara. (2017). Gaming on the Rift: How Virtual Reality Affects Game User Satisfaction. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. 61.

Murphy, Dooley. (2017). Virtual Reality is 'Finally Here': A Qualitative Exploration of Formal Determinants of Player Experience in VR. Alistair Sutcliffe & Brian Gault. (2004). Heuristic evaluation of virtual reality applications. Interacting with Computers, Volume 16, Issue 4, August 2004, Pages 831–849.

Coomans, M.K.D, H.J.P Timmermans (1997). Towards a Taxonomy of Virtual Reality User Interfaces, Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Visualisation (IV97) 27-29 August 1997, London.

Bernhard E. Riecke, Jörg Schulte-Pelkum, Marios N. Avraamides, Markus von der Heyde, and Heinrich H. Bülthoff. (2005). Scene consistency and spatial presence increase the sensation of self-motion in virtual reality.

Susan Persky & Jim Blascovich. (2007). Immersive Virtual Environments Versus Traditional Platforms: Effects of Violent and Nonviolent Video Game Play, Media Psychology, 10:1, 135-156.

HOW DOES UX DESIGN MATCH WITH VIRTUAL REALITY Appendix

Table 1: Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS)

Note. Description of Each Subscale. Reprinted from “The Development and Validation of the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (Guess),” by M.H. Plan, J.R. Keebler, and B.S. Chaparro, 2016 by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

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Table 2: Heuristics evaluation method in VR

Note. Heuristics, rating, and interpretations of problems encountered. Reprinted from “Heuristic evaluation of virtual reality applications” by Alistair Sutcliffe and Brian Gault, 2004 by Interacting with Computers, Volume 16, Issue 4, August 2004, Pages 831–849.

HOW DOES UX DESIGN MATCH WITH VIRTUAL REALITY Table 3: Satisfaction Subscales Score of GUESS

*P<.001 (two-tailed) Note. Overall GUESS and subscale scores for an Oculus Rift VR headset and a traditional monitor. Reprinted from “Gaming on the Rift: How Virtual Reality Affects Game User Satisfaction.” by Shelstad, William and Smith, Dustin and Chaparro, Barbara, 2017 by Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. 61.

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Figure 1: Satisfaction Subscales of GUESS

Note. Subscales of the GUESS comparing an Oculus Rift VR headset and a traditional monitor.

Reprinted from “Gaming on the Rift: How Virtual Reality Affects Game User Satisfaction.” by Shelstad, William and Smith, Dustin and Chaparro, Barbara, 2017 by Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. 61.

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Figure 2: SUS-II score comparison on the effect of display condition

Note. Mean scores comparison: Effect of display condition on SUS-II. Reprinted from “Gaming in Virtual Reality: What Changes in Terms of Usability, Emotional Response and Sense of Presence Compared to Non-Immersive Video Games? “by Pallavicini, Federica and Pepe, Alessandro and Minissi, Maria Eleonora, 2019 by Simulation & Gaming.