TY - GEN

T1 - Where do you exercise? Exploring the Impact of Different Virtual Environments on Exergame Performance and User Experience

T2 - 2024 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences, IMX 2024

AU - Funke, Jana Franceska

AU - Spahr, Julia

AU - Hirzle, Teresa

AU - Rukzio, Enrico

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Environments can affect mood, motivation, and productivity. Green spaces, for example, are known to have calming effects on people's moods. In virtual reality (VR), we could take advantage of these effects, as we have full visual control over the environment. In this paper, we explore how such potential effects caused by the environment impact performance and user experience (UX) when playing an exergame. We created four environments differing in their level of detail and visual realism.: (1) a white room, (2) outer space, (3) an abstract space, and (4) a forest environment. In a user study (N=26) in which participants played an exergame in all four environments, we found evidence that VEs influence enjoyment and performance. The simulation of green spaces or abstract VEs with enjoyable background sounds has a particularly positive impact. We discuss how environmental features impact performance and UX and present promising avenues for future work investigating specific parts of environmental features.

AB - Environments can affect mood, motivation, and productivity. Green spaces, for example, are known to have calming effects on people's moods. In virtual reality (VR), we could take advantage of these effects, as we have full visual control over the environment. In this paper, we explore how such potential effects caused by the environment impact performance and user experience (UX) when playing an exergame. We created four environments differing in their level of detail and visual realism.: (1) a white room, (2) outer space, (3) an abstract space, and (4) a forest environment. In a user study (N=26) in which participants played an exergame in all four environments, we found evidence that VEs influence enjoyment and performance. The simulation of green spaces or abstract VEs with enjoyable background sounds has a particularly positive impact. We discuss how environmental features impact performance and UX and present promising avenues for future work investigating specific parts of environmental features.

KW - exergame

KW - virtual environments

KW - virtual reality

U2 - 10.1145/3639701.3663632

DO - 10.1145/3639701.3663632

M3 - Article in proceedings

AN - SCOPUS:85196551890

SP - 320

EP - 327

BT - IMX 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences

PB - Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.

Y2 - 12 June 2024 through 14 June 2024

ER -