Influence of Virtual Environments and Conversations on User Engagement During Multiplayer Exergames

Virtual Reality (VR) multiplayer games are currently developed more frequently, while in parallel VR is becoming more accessible to the broader public. Also exergames, which refer to computer games combined with a physical activity, are getting widely available, driven by developments in sensor technologies. In this paper, we present results of a multiplayer exergame experiment where two players race against each other four times on two rowing ergometers. Experimental conditions were type of environment (with VR vs. without VR) and the possibility of conversation with the opponent (conversation enabled vs. conversation disabled). To measure subjective experience, participants rated perceived flow, sense of presence and social presence on standardized questionnaires. Results show that the type of environment has a significant influence on the perceived presence, as participants rated the presence higher in VR. The possibility of conversation resulted in a perception of a significantly higher social presence. This illustrates that the usage of virtual environments as well as the possibility of conversations between users are highly valuable to increase the Quality of Experience during exergames. In our future research, we plan to further investigate means to improve the user experience by applying gamification, different representations of opponents, and to assess the impact of network impairments during multiplayer scenarios.