The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals
Background. Empathic interactions with animated game characters can help improve user experience , increase immersion, and achieve better affective outcomes related to the use of the game. Method. We used a 2x2 between-participant design and a control condition to analyze the impact of the visual ap...
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ftdatacite:10.25384/sage.c.5048886 2023-05-15T16:51:55+02:00 The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals Rativa, Alexandra Sierra Postma, Marie Zaanen, Menno Van 2020 https://dx.doi.org/10.25384/sage.c.5048886 https://sage.figshare.com/collections/The_Influence_of_Game_Character_Appearance_on_Empathy_and_Immersion_Virtual_Non-Robotic_Versus_Robotic_Animals/5048886 unknown SAGE Journals https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1046878120926694 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode CC-BY-4.0 CC-BY 150310 Organisation and Management Theory FOS Economics and business Science Policy Collection article 2020 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.25384/sage.c.5048886 https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878120926694 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Background. Empathic interactions with animated game characters can help improve user experience , increase immersion, and achieve better affective outcomes related to the use of the game. Method. We used a 2x2 between-participant design and a control condition to analyze the impact of the visual appearance of a virtual game character on empathy and immersion . The four experimental conditions of the game character appearance were: Natural (virtual animal) with expressiveness (emotional facial expressions), natural (virtual animal) with non-expressiveness (without emotional facial expressions), artificial (virtual robotic animal) with expressiveness (emotional facial expressions), and artificial (virtual robotic animal) with non-expressiveness (without emotional facial expressions). The control condition contained a baseline amorphous game character. 100 participants between 18 to 29 years old (M=22.47) were randomly assigned to one of five experimental groups. Participants originated from several countries: Aruba (1), China (1), Colombia (3), Finland (1), France (1), Germany (1), Greece (2), Iceland (1), India (1), Iran (1), Ireland (1), Italy (3), Jamaica (1), Latvia (1), Morocco (3), Netherlands (70), Poland (1), Romania (2), Spain (1), Thailand (1), Turkey (1), United States (1), and Vietnam (1). Results. We found that congruence in appearance and facial expressions of virtual animals (artificial + non-expressive and natural + expressive) leads to higher levels of self-reported situational empathy and immersion of players in a simulated environment compared to incongruent appearance and facial expressions. Conclusions. The results of this investigation showed an interaction effect between artificial/natural body appearance and facial expressiveness of a virtual character’s appearance. The evidence from this study suggests that the appearance of the virtual animal has an important influence on user experience . Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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150310 Organisation and Management Theory FOS Economics and business Science Policy |
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150310 Organisation and Management Theory FOS Economics and business Science Policy Rativa, Alexandra Sierra Postma, Marie Zaanen, Menno Van The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals |
topic_facet |
150310 Organisation and Management Theory FOS Economics and business Science Policy |
description |
Background. Empathic interactions with animated game characters can help improve user experience , increase immersion, and achieve better affective outcomes related to the use of the game. Method. We used a 2x2 between-participant design and a control condition to analyze the impact of the visual appearance of a virtual game character on empathy and immersion . The four experimental conditions of the game character appearance were: Natural (virtual animal) with expressiveness (emotional facial expressions), natural (virtual animal) with non-expressiveness (without emotional facial expressions), artificial (virtual robotic animal) with expressiveness (emotional facial expressions), and artificial (virtual robotic animal) with non-expressiveness (without emotional facial expressions). The control condition contained a baseline amorphous game character. 100 participants between 18 to 29 years old (M=22.47) were randomly assigned to one of five experimental groups. Participants originated from several countries: Aruba (1), China (1), Colombia (3), Finland (1), France (1), Germany (1), Greece (2), Iceland (1), India (1), Iran (1), Ireland (1), Italy (3), Jamaica (1), Latvia (1), Morocco (3), Netherlands (70), Poland (1), Romania (2), Spain (1), Thailand (1), Turkey (1), United States (1), and Vietnam (1). Results. We found that congruence in appearance and facial expressions of virtual animals (artificial + non-expressive and natural + expressive) leads to higher levels of self-reported situational empathy and immersion of players in a simulated environment compared to incongruent appearance and facial expressions. Conclusions. The results of this investigation showed an interaction effect between artificial/natural body appearance and facial expressiveness of a virtual character’s appearance. The evidence from this study suggests that the appearance of the virtual animal has an important influence on user experience . |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rativa, Alexandra Sierra Postma, Marie Zaanen, Menno Van |
author_facet |
Rativa, Alexandra Sierra Postma, Marie Zaanen, Menno Van |
author_sort |
Rativa, Alexandra Sierra |
title |
The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals |
title_short |
The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals |
title_full |
The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals |
title_fullStr |
The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals |
title_sort |
influence of game character appearance on empathy and immersion: virtual non-robotic versus robotic animals |
publisher |
SAGE Journals |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.25384/sage.c.5048886 https://sage.figshare.com/collections/The_Influence_of_Game_Character_Appearance_on_Empathy_and_Immersion_Virtual_Non-Robotic_Versus_Robotic_Animals/5048886 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1046878120926694 |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode CC-BY-4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.25384/sage.c.5048886 https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878120926694 |
_version_ |
1766042047213469696 |