Measuring the effect of gaming experience on virtual environment navigation tasks

Smith, Shamus P.; Du'Mont, Sam

Abstract

Virtual environments are synthetic 3D worlds typically viewed from a first-person point of view with many potential applications within areas such as visualisation, entertainment and training simulators. To effectively develop and utilise virtual environments, user-centric evaluations are commonly performed. Anecdotal evidence suggests that factors such as prior experience with computer games may affect the results of such evaluations. This paper examines the effects of previous computer gaming experience, user perceived gaming ability and actual gaming performance on navigation tasks in a virtual environment. Two computer games and a virtual environment were developed to elicit performance metrics for use within a user study. Results indicated that perceived gaming skill and progress in a First-Person-Shooter (FPS) game were the most consistent metrics showing significant correlations with performance in time-based navigation tasks. There was also strong evidence that these relations were significantly intensified by the inclusion of participants who play FPS games. In addition, it was found that increased gaming experience decreased spatial perception performance.

Citation

Smith, S. P., & Du'Mont, S. (2009, April). Measuring the effect of gaming experience on virtual environment navigation tasks. Presented at IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces
• Online Publication Date: Apr 7, 2009
• Publication Date: Apr 7, 2009
• Deposit Date: May 8, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 1, 2010
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Pages: 3-10
• Book Title: Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE symposium on 3D user interfaces.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/3dui.2009.4811198
• Keywords: Virtual environments, Games, Evaluation.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1160802