Engagement and Competence in VR and non-VR Environments

There has been a general push within the past five years to commercialize virtual reality (VR) gaming for public use. Devices such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, and Samsung VR on the market have emerged with more to come in the future. With these immersive technologies becoming more accessible, researchers can more easily test the idea of levels of engagement in VR games compared to non-VR games on the console or PC. VR companies market their immersive technology to be more engaging experiences but very little research has been conducted with newer models. The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference in engagement when using a VR version or a non-VR version of the game Thumper. The study will have 60 participants of varying expertise who will play Thumper for twenty-three minutes and then will be asked to take a demographic survey, the GUESS measure, and a motion sickness survey. This study is in progress and expects to shed light on the relationships between immersion and virtual reality.