In an increasingly digitalized world, where the possibility of interfacing with virtual contexts is progressively more common, it becomes meaningful to understand the effect of the virtual on people, who until recently were mainly used to physical experiences. Therefore, the present work aims to study in-depth one of the top high technologies of the moment, whose impact on users is still uncertain, but it will surely be far from negligible: Virtual Reality (VR) For this purpose, an analysis of the existing literature review on virtual reality has been proposed, focused on understanding its impact on users. From this analysis emerged a possible relationship between the use of virtual reality and behavioural manifestations linked to the three engagement dimensions: cognitive, emotional and physical engagement. Anyway, in the literature, we experience the lack of an extensive study on this relationship, that considers the engagements' components and how VR affects each of them. To fulfil this gap, it has been studying empirically such relationship comparing the engagement of two groups who paly escape rooms, one in reality and the other in virtual reality. Results show that VR is able to provide the same engagement of the corresponding virtual experience, becoming an optimum substitution of reality, when it is impossible. Anyway, to require virtual reality an extra impact on users it needs to give them a new meaning. Furthermore, it has been found that the use of technology can cause high-tech anxiety, therefore individuals perceived self-efficacy plays a crucial role, becoming an enabler of the engagement. The empirical research aims at being the first milestone to investigated virtual reality, not only as technological innovation, rather as a support and as an extension of people's potential, with a human-centric vision, and looking for significant meaning.
In un mondo sempre più digitalizzato, dove la possibilità di interfacciarsi con contesti virtuali è progressivamente più comune, diventa importante comprendere l'effetto del virtuale sulle persone. Pertanto, questa ricerca mira a studiare in profondità una delle tecnologie del momento, il cui impatto sugli utenti è ancora incerto, ma sarà sicuramente tutt'altro che trascurabile: la realtà virtuale (VR) A tal fine, è stata proposta un'analisi della letteratura esistente sulla realtà virtuale, incentrata sulla comprensione del suo impatto sugli utenti. Da questa analisi è emersa una possibile relazione tra l'uso della realtà virtuale e comportamenti legati alle tre dimensioni dell'engagement: il coinvolgimento cognitivo, emotivo e fisico. Ad ogni modo, in letteratura manca uno studio approfondito su questa relazioni. Per colmare la lacuna, questa ricerca studia empiricamente tali relazioni confrontando l'engagement di due gruppi dopo aver giocato un'escape room, per un gruppo virtuale e per l'altro reale. I risultati mostrano che la realtà virtuale è in grado di coinvolgere tanto quanto l'esperienza reale corrispondente, diventando un sostituto ottimale della realtà. Tuttavia, per richiedere alla realtà virtuale un impatto extra sugli utenti, è necessario dare loro un nuovo significato. Inoltre, dallo studio emerge che l'uso della VR può causare una sorta di "ansia tecnologica". Pertanto l'autoefficacia percepita gioca un ruolo cruciale, diventando un fattore abilitante per il coinvolgimento. Questa ricerca mira ad essere il primo passo per indagare la realtà virtuale, non solo come innovazione tecnologica, ma come supporto alle persone.
Escaping reality or virtual reality ? An empirical experiment on engagement in real and virtual escape rooms
LAURENZANO, ILARIA
2018/2019
Abstract
In an increasingly digitalized world, where the possibility of interfacing with virtual contexts is progressively more common, it becomes meaningful to understand the effect of the virtual on people, who until recently were mainly used to physical experiences. Therefore, the present work aims to study in-depth one of the top high technologies of the moment, whose impact on users is still uncertain, but it will surely be far from negligible: Virtual Reality (VR) For this purpose, an analysis of the existing literature review on virtual reality has been proposed, focused on understanding its impact on users. From this analysis emerged a possible relationship between the use of virtual reality and behavioural manifestations linked to the three engagement dimensions: cognitive, emotional and physical engagement. Anyway, in the literature, we experience the lack of an extensive study on this relationship, that considers the engagements' components and how VR affects each of them. To fulfil this gap, it has been studying empirically such relationship comparing the engagement of two groups who paly escape rooms, one in reality and the other in virtual reality. Results show that VR is able to provide the same engagement of the corresponding virtual experience, becoming an optimum substitution of reality, when it is impossible. Anyway, to require virtual reality an extra impact on users it needs to give them a new meaning. Furthermore, it has been found that the use of technology can cause high-tech anxiety, therefore individuals perceived self-efficacy plays a crucial role, becoming an enabler of the engagement. The empirical research aims at being the first milestone to investigated virtual reality, not only as technological innovation, rather as a support and as an extension of people's potential, with a human-centric vision, and looking for significant meaning.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2020_04_Laurenzano.pdf
accessibile in internet per tutti
Descrizione: Testo della tesi
Dimensione
3.05 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
3.05 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in POLITesi sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/10589/153499