An examination of our many modes of online identity and how we live on the continuum between the virtual and the real.Hello Avatar! Or, {llSay(0, "Hello, Avatar!"); is a tiny piece of user-friendly ...code that allows us to program our virtual selves. In Hello Avatar, B. Coleman examines a crucial aspect of our cultural shift from analog to digital: the continuum between online and off-, what she calls the "x-reality" that crosses between the virtual and the real. She looks at the emergence of a world that is neither virtual nor real but encompasses a multiplicity of network combinations. And she argues that it is the role of the avatar to help us express our new agency-our new power to customize our networked life.By avatar, Coleman means not just the animated figures that populate our screens but the gestalt of images, text, and multimedia that make up our online identities-in virtual worlds like Second Life and in the form of email, video chat, and other digital artifacts. Exploring such network activities as embodiment, extreme (virtual) violence, and the work in virtual reality labs, and offering sidebar interviews with designers and practitioners, she argues that what is new is real-time collaboration and copresence, the way we make connections using networked media and the cultures we have created around this. The star of this drama of expanded horizons is the networked subject-all of us who represent aspects of ourselves and our work across the mediascape.
•Hedonic motivation has not previously been used to assess VR subjective well-being.•This study uses the hedonic adoption model to examine consumer use of VR tourism.•The effect of enjoyment on flow ...state is highly related to subjective well-being.•Flow state and subjective well-being significantly influence continued use of VR.•Visitor/non-visitor moderates the relationship between usefulness and flow state.
Virtual reality (VR) tourism provides consumers with the opportunity to experience a destination in VR and can play a significant role in encouraging visitation and engaging in particular travel activities and behaviors. Hedonic motivation adoption frameworks with flow state and subjective well-being have been shown to have significant roles in continued use of information technology. However, research on a theoretically integrated hedonic motivation system adoption model (HMSAM) specifically with enjoyment, flow state, subjective well-being, and continued use has not previously been conducted with respect to VR tourism. To address this gap, this study develops and investigates a conceptually comprehensive model on the effect of consumers’ hedonic behaviors on continued use, with the moderating role of visitor or non-visitor at the destination portrayed in VR tourism. Results identified the highly significant effect of consumers’ perceived enjoyment on flow state and of flow state on subjective well-being. Continued use was greatly influenced by flow state and subjective well-being. Importantly for destinations association between usefulness and flow state had a significant moderating effect depending on whether a visitor or non-visitor. The findings offer new knowledge to researchers and industry in the VR tourism fields.
Working Through Synthetic Worlds explores different tasks that might benefit by being performed within a synthetic world. The term 'synthetic world' refers to a subset of virtual environments, having ...a large virtual landscape and a set of rules that govern the interactions among participants. Currently, their primary motivators appear to be fun and novelty. If synthetic worlds are to prosper the non-game-oriented worlds will need to facilitate business processes to a degree that exceeds their substantial costs for development and maintenance.
Objective purpose: This review synthesized the literature examining the effects of virtual reality (VR)-based exercise on physiological, psychological, and rehabilitative outcomes in various ...populations. Design: A systematic review. Data sources: 246 articles were retrieved using key words, such as “VR”, “exercise intervention”, “physiological”, “psychology”, and “rehabilitation” through nine databases including Academic Search Premier and PubMed. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: 15 articles which met the following criteria were included in the review: (1) peer-reviewed; (2) published in English; (3) randomized controlled trials (RCTs), controlled trials or causal-comparative design; (4) interventions using VR devices; and (5) examined effects on physiological, psychological, and/or rehabilitative outcomes. Descriptive and thematic analyses were used. Results: Of the 12 articles examining physiological outcomes, eight showed a positive effect on physical fitness, muscle strength, balance, and extremity function. Only four articles examined the effects on psychological outcomes, three showed positive effects such that VR exercise could ease fatigue, tension, and depression and induce calmness and enhance quality of life. Nine articles investigated the effects of VR-based exercise on rehabilitative outcomes with physiological and/or psychological outcomes, and six observed significant positive changes. In detail, patients who suffered from chronic stroke, hemodialysis, spinal-cord injury, cerebral palsy in early ages, and cognitive decline usually saw better improvements using VR-based exercise. Conclusion: The findings suggest that VR exercise has the potential to exert a positive impact on individual’s physiological, psychological, and rehabilitative outcomes compared with traditional exercise. However, the quality, quantity, and sample size of existing studies are far from ideal. Therefore, more rigorous studies are needed to confirm the observed positive effects.
•Virtual reality exposure therapy shows a large effect size compared to control conditions.•Virtual reality exposure therapy did not show significant differences from in vivo exposure therapy.•Effect ...sizes for disorder types were relatively consistent.
Trials of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) for anxiety-related disorders have proliferated in number and diversity since our previous meta-analysis that examined 13 total trials, most of which were for specific phobias (Powers & Emmelkamp, 2008). Since then, new trials have compared VRET to more diverse anxiety and related disorders including social anxiety disorder (SAD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and panic disorder (PD) with and without agoraphobia. With the availability of this data, it is imperative to re-examine the efficacy of VRET for anxiety. A literature search for randomized controlled trials of VRET versus control or in vivo exposure yielded 30 studies with 1057 participants. Fourteen studies tested VRET for specific phobias, 8 for SAD or performance anxiety, 5 for PTSD, and 3 for PD. A random effects analysis estimated a large effect size for VRET versus waitlist (g = 0.90) and a medium to large effect size for VRET versus psychological placebo conditions (g = 0.78). A comparison of VRET and in vivo conditions did not show significantly different effect sizes (g = −0.07). These findings were relatively consistent across disorders. A meta-regression analysis revealed that larger sample sizes were associated with lower effect sizes in VRET versus control comparisons (β = −0.007, p < 0.05). These results indicate that VRET is an effective and equal medium for exposure therapy.
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