Evaluating the Effects of a Cartoon-Like Character with Emotions on Users' Behaviour within Virtual Reality Environments

In this research we explore the effect of a virtual avatar that is non-human like and can express basic distinguishable emotions on users' level of engagement and interest. Virtual reality (VR) environments are able to render realistic representations. However, not all virtual environments require life-like representations of their characters-in our research a 'life-like' human character means that it resembles very closely to an actual person in real life. It is very common for games to use simple non-human characters. Cartoon-like characters can actually have a greater impact on users' affinity towards these games. The aim of this research is to examine if interactions with a cartoon-like character that has the capacity to express simple but common emotional expressions is sufficient to bring forth a change in the behavior and level of engagement of users with the character. This research seeks to find out if adding simple emotions to virtual characters is beneficial to increasing users' interest. To explore these questions, we have conducted a study with a human-like cartoon character in a VR environment that can express simple, basic human emotions based on users' input. The results of our experiment show that a cartoon-like character can benefit from displaying emotional traits or responses when interacting with humans in a VR environment.