This study investigates the influence of a first-person perspective (1PP) and a third-person perspective (3PP), respectively, on the affective appraisal and on the user engagement of a three-dimensional virtual environment in SECOND LIFE. Participants explored the environment while searching for five targets during a limited time span, using either a 1PP or a 3PP. No significant overall effect was found for viewing perspective on the appraisal of the three-dimensional virtual environment on the dimensions of arousal and valence. However, a 3PP yields more perceived control over the avatar and the events, which is a requirement for engagement. Analysis of the performance on the search task shows that participants using a 3PP find more objects but also need more time to find them. The present results suggest that a 3PP conveys a more distinct impression of the environment, thereby increasing engagement, and probably induces a different viewing strategy. Hence, a 3PP appears preferable for simulation and training applications in which the correct assessment of the affective properties of an environment is essential.
Amorim, M.-A., Trumbore, B., & Chogyen, P.L. ( 2000). Cognitive repositioning inside a desktop VE: The constraints introduced by first-versus third-person imagery and mental representation richness. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual environments , 9, 165-186.
2.
Bainbridge, W.S. ( 2007). The scientific research potential of virtual worlds. Science, 317, 472-476.
3.
Berger, H., Dittenbach, M., Merkl, D., Bogdanovych, A., Simoff, S., & Sierra, C. ( 2007). Opening new dimensions for e-tourism. Virtual Reality, 11, 75-87.
4.
Bleacher, L.V., & Stockman, S.A. (2008). Second Life: A venue for informal education and participatory exploration. In Proceedings of the 39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIX (pp. 1167-1-1167-2). Houston, TX: Lunar and Planetary Institute.
5.
Boulos, M.N.K., Hetherington, L., & Wheeler, S. ( 2007). Second Life: An overview of the potential of 3-D virtual worlds in medical and health education. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 24, 233-245.
6.
Carter, B., & Click, A. ( 2006). Imagine the real in the virtual: Experience your Second Life. Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, Madison, Wisconsin.
7.
Chatham, R.E. ( 2007). Games for training. Communications of the ACM, 50, 36-43.
8.
Chesney, T., Chuah, S.-H., & Hoffmann, R. ( 2007). Virtual world experimentation: An exploratory study (Occasional Paper Series 2007-21). Nottingham, UK: Industrial Economics Division, Nottingham University Business School.
9.
Cho, Y.-H., Wang, Y., & Fesenmaier, D.R. (2002). Searching for experiences: The web-based virtual tour in tourism marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 12, 1-17.
10.
Cohen, C., Jacobus, C., Grosse, J., Asay, K., & Jiminez, A. ( 2004). Using computer game techniques to support asymmetric warfare simulation. Paper presented at the Simulation Interoperability Workshop (SIW), Orlando, FL.
11.
Cramer, M.J., Ramachandran, S., & Viera, J.K. ( 2004). Using computer games to train information warfare teams . Paper presented at the Industry/Interservice, Training, Simulation & Education Conference (I/ITSEC 2004), Orlando, FL.
12.
David, N., Bewernick, B.H., Cohen, M.X., Newen, A., Lux, S., Fink, G.R., et al. (2006). Neural representations of self versus other: Visual-spatial perspective taking and agency in a virtual ball-tossing game . Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 898-910.
13.
Dev, P., Youngblood, P., Heinrichs, W.L., & Kusumoto, L. ( 2007). Virtual worlds and team training. Anesthesiology Clinics, 25, 321-336.
14.
Dickey, M.D. ( 2005). Engaging by design: How engagement strategies in popular computer and video games can inform instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53, 67-83.
15.
Drettakis, G., Roussou, M., Reche, A., & Tsingos, N. ( 2007). Design and evaluation of a real-world virtual environment for architecture and urban planning. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 16, 318-332.
16.
Fabricatore, C., Nussbaum, M., & Rosas, R. ( 2002). Playability in action videogames: A qualitative design model. Human-Computer Interaction, 17, 311-368.
17.
Fisher, R.J. ( 1993). Social desirability bias and the validity of indirect questioning. Journal of Consumer Research, 20, 303-315.
18.
Frank, A. ( 2007). Balancing three different foci in the design of serious games: Engagement, training objective and context In Situated Play: Proceedings of the Third International Conference of the Digital Games Reseacrh Association (pp. 567-574). Tokyo: Digital Games Research Association.
19.
Franz, G., Von der Heyde, M., & Bulthoff, H.H. (2005). An empirical approach to the experience of architectural space in virtual reality: Exploring relations between features and affective appraisals of rectangular indoor spaces. Automation in Construction, 14, 165-172.
20.
Garris, R., Ahlers, R., & Driskell, J.E. (2002). Games, motivation, and learning: A research and practice model. Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 33, 441-467.
21.
Guy, B., Bidwell, N.J., & Musumeci, P. ( 2005). GamePlan™: Serious gaming for place making. In Proceedings of the Second Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment (pp. 252-255). Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: Creativity & Cognition Studios Press.
22.
Hayes, A.E., Paul, M.A., Beuger, B., & Tipper, S.P. ( 2006). Affective responses to stimuli viewed from egocentric vs. allocentric perspectives [Abstract]. Journal of Vision , 6, 956a.
23.
Hayes, A.E., Paul, M.A., Beuger, B., & Tipper, S.P. ( 2008). Self produced and observed actions influence emotion: The roles of action fluency and eye gaze. Psychological Research , 72, 461-472.
24.
Herwig, A., & Paar, P. ( 2002). Game engines: Tools for landscape visualization and planning? In Trends in GIS and Virtualization in Environmental Planning and Design (pp. 161-172). Heidelberg, Gemany: Wichmann Verlag.
25.
Hogervorst, M.A., Bijl, P., & Toet, A. ( 2005). On the relationship between human search strategies, conspicuity and search performance. In G. C. Holst (Ed.), Infrared imaging systems: Design, analysis, modeling, and testing (Vol. XVI, pp. 240-251). Bellingham, WA: International Society for Optical Engineering .
26.
Johns, R., & Lowe, R. ( 2006). Unreal editor as a virtual design instrument in landscape architecture studio. Journal of Design Research, 5, 172-187.
27.
Kalay, Y.E. ( 2004). Virtual learning environments. Journal of Information Technology in Construction. Retrieved February 19, 2010, from http://www.itcon.org/2004/13/
28.
Kallinen, K., Salminen, M., Ravaja, N., Kedzior, R., & Sääksjärvi, M. (2007). Presence and emotion in computer game players during 1st person vs. 3rd person playing view: Evidence from self-report, eye-tracking, and facial muscle activity data. In Proceedings of Presence 2007 (pp. 187-190). Barcelona, Spain: International Society for Presence Research.
29.
Lamb, M., & Hollands, J.G. (2005). Viewpoint tethering in complex terrain navigation and awareness. In Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting Proceedings, Perception and Performance (pp. 1573-1577). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
30.
Laurel, B. ( 1993). Computers as theatre (2nd ed.). Boston: Addison-Wesley Longman.
31.
Lessiter, J., Freeman, J., Keogh, E., & Davidoff, J.D. (2001). A cross-media presence questionnaire: The ITC Sense of Presence Inventory. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 10, 282-297.
32.
Loiterton, D., & Bishop, I. ( 2005). Virtual environments and location-based questioning for understanding visitor movement in urban parks and gardens. In E. Buhmann, P. Paar, & I. Bishop (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Conference for Information Technologies in Landscape Architecture: Real-time Visualizaition and Participation, New Technologies for Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Heidelberg, Germany: Wichmann Verlag.
33.
Mallon, B., & Webb, B. ( 2000). Structure, causality, visibility and interaction: Propositions for evaluating engagement in narrative multimedia. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 53, 269-287.
34.
Merckelbach, H., Horselenberg, R., & Muris, P. ( 2008). The Creative Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ): A brief self-report measure of fantasy proneness. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 987-995.
35.
Nasar, J.L., & Jones, K.M. ( 1997). Landscapes of fear and stress. Environment and Behavior, 29, 291-323.
36.
Ondrejka, C.R. ( 2008). Education unleashed: Participatory culture, education, and innovation in Second Life. In K. Salen (Ed.), The ecology of games: Connecting youth, games, and learning (pp. 229-251). Cambridge: MIT Press.
37.
Riddle, J. ( 2002). Cameras and point-of-view in the gamespace. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (p. 155). New York: ACM.
38.
Riva, G., Mantovani, F., Capideville, C.S., Preziosa, A., Morganti, F., Villani, D., et al. (2007). Affective interactions using virtual reality: The link between presence and emotions. Cyber-Psychology & Behavior, 10, 45-56.
39.
Rizzo, A., Morie, J.F., Williams, J., Pair, J., & Buckwalter, J.G. (2005). Human emotional state and its relevance for military VR training. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Las Vegas, NV.
40.
Ruby, P., & Decety, J. ( 2001). Effect of subjective perspective taking during simulation of action: A PET investigation of agency. Nature Neuroscience , 4, 546-550.
41.
Ruby, P., & Decety, J. ( 2003). What you believe versus what you think they believe: A neuroimaging study of conceptual perspective-taking. European Journal of Neuroscience, 17, 2475-2480.
42.
Russell, J.A., & Pratt, G. ( 1980). A description of the affective quality attributed to environments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 38, 311-322.
43.
Russell, J.A., Ward, L.M., & Pratt, G. ( 1982). Affective quality attributed to environments: A factor analytic study. Environment and Behavior, 13, 259-288.
44.
Salamin, P., Thalmann, D., & Vexo, F. ( 2006). The benefits of third-person perspective in virtual and augmented reality? In Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (pp. 27-30). New York: ACM.
45.
Schneider, E.F., Lang, A., Shin, M., & Bradley, S.D. ( 2004). Death with story: How story impacts emotional, motivational, and physiological responses to first-shooter video games. Human Communication Research, 30, 361-375.
46.
Schuurink, E.L., Houtkamp, J.M., & Toet, A. ( 2008). Engagement and EMG in serious gaming: Experimenting with sound and dynamics in the Levee Patroller training game. In P. Markopoulos, B. D. Ruyter, W. A. IJsselsteijn, & D. Rowland (Eds.), Fun and games: Proceedings of the International Conference on Fun and Games (pp. 139-149). Berlin, Germany: Springer Verlag.
47.
Stamps, A.E. ( 2005). Enclosure and safety in urbanscapes. Environment and Behavior, 37, 102-133.
48.
Vogeley, K., May, M., Ritzl, A., Falkai, P., Zilles, K., & Fink, G.R. ( 2008). Neural correlates of first-person perspective as one constituent of human self-consciousness. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2004, 817-827.
49.
Werner, E.B. ( 1991). Manual of visual fields. New York : Churchill Livingstone.
50.
Wickens, C.D., & Hollands, J.G. (2000). Engineering psychology and human performance (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
51.
Wilfred, L.M., Hall, R., Hilgers, M., Leu, M., Hortenstine, J., Walker, C., et al. (2004). Training in affectively intense virtual environments. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2004 (pp. 2233-2240). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
52.
Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N., Urbanek, M., Chang, F., & Merget, D. ( 2007). The unbearable likeness of being digital: The persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual environments. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10, 115-121.
53.
Yellowlees, P.M., & Cook, J.N. ( 2006). Education about hallucinations using an internet virtual reality system: A qualitative survey. Academic Psychiatry , 30, 534-539.
