World of Warcraft rapidly became one of the most popular online world games on the planet, amassing 11.5 million subscribers—officially making it an online community of gamers that had more ...inhabitants than the state of Ohio and was almost twice as populous as Scotland. It's a massively multiplayer online game, or MMO in gamer jargon, where each person controls a single character inside a virtual world, interacting with other people's characters and computer-controlled monsters, quest-givers, and merchants. In My Life as a Night Elf Priest, Bonnie Nardi, a well-known ethnographer who has published extensively on how theories of what we do intersect with how we adopt and use technology, compiles more than three years of participatory research in Warcraft play and culture in the United States and China into this field study of player behavior and activity. She introduces us to her research strategy and the history, structure, and culture of Warcraft; argues for applying activity theory and theories of aesthetic experience to the study of gaming and play; and educates us on issues of gender, culture, and addiction as part of the play experience. Nardi paints a compelling portrait of what drives online gamers both in this country and in China, where she spent a month studying players in Internet cafes. Bonnie Nardi has given us a fresh look not only at World of Warcraft but at the field of game studies as a whole. One of the first in-depth studies of a game that has become an icon of digital culture, My Life as a Night Elf Priest will capture the interest of both the gamer and the ethnographer.
The use of virtual reality tools in the clinic Rio, E.; Stanton, T.; Harvie, D.
Journal of science and medicine in sport,
October 2019, 2019-10-00, 20191001, Letnik:
22
Journal Article
Abstract
Objective
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of adding virtual reality (VR) to maintenance cardiac rehabilitation (CR); it was hypothesized VR would increase adherence, ...motivation, and engagement.
Methods
This study was a randomized, 1:1 concealed-allocation, single-blinded, 2 parallel-arm, crossover trial. Blinded assessments were undertaken at baseline (midprogram), 12 weeks, and 24 weeks after baseline. The setting was a single CR program of unlimited duration in Brazil. Participants were patients with cardiovascular diseases or risk factors who had been in the program for 3 months or longer. The CR program consisted of 3 supervised exercise sessions per week. In the VR arm, participants had 1 VR session of the 3 per week during the initial 12 weeks of the trial; this was withdrawn the subsequent 12 weeks. Measures were program adherence (% of 3 sessions/week over 12 weeks, ascertained in all participants), motivation (Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire 3), and engagement (User Engagement Scale, adapted; vigor, dedication, and absorption subscales); all 3 were primary outcomes.
Results
Sixty-one (83.6%) patients were randomly assigned (n = 30 to CR + VR); 54 (88.5%) were retained at 12 and 24 weeks. At baseline, participants had been in CR on average 7 years and had high engagement and motivation. CR + VR resulted in a significant increase in adherence at 12 weeks (baseline = 72.87%; 12 weeks = 82.80%), with significant reductions at 24 weeks when VR was withdrawn (65.48%); in the usual CR care arm, there were no changes over time. There was a significant effect for arm, with significantly higher adherence in the CR + VR arm than usual CR at 12 weeks (73.51%). Motivation decreased significantly from baseline to 12 weeks (4.32 SD = 0.37 vs 4.02 SD = 0.76) and significantly increased from 12 to 24 weeks in the CR + VR arm (4.37 SD = 0.36). Absorption was significantly lower at 12 weeks in the CR + VR arm (6.79 SD = 0.37 vs 6.20 SD = 1.01).
Conclusion
Although VR increased program adherence, interspersing it with usual CR sessions actually decreased patient motivation and absorption.
Impact
Supplementing a maintenance CR program with VR using “exergames” resulted in significantly greater adherence (8% increase or 3 of 36 sessions), and this was quite a robust effect given it was extinguished with the removal of VR. However, contrary to the hypotheses, offering 1 session of VR per week and 2 of usual CR exercise was related to lower motivation and absorption, which has implications for how clinicians design programs for this patient population.
Technology can translocate traditional art into interactive, immersive experiences. At the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the authors transformed Tibetan Buddhist mandalas into a 3D virtual ...reality mandala installation. Furthering this project, they externalized an analog of the meditative experience by recording electroencephalograms that dynamically modulated the visual scene. The use of neurofeedback allowed fluctuations in the alpha power to drive the intensity of the fog obscuring the mandala. This aimed to give a sense of clearing the fog with one’s mind in a meditation-like state. The collaboration demonstrated how technology intended for scientific use may be adapted to an artistic installation that enriches the visitor experience.
In virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), patients are exposed to virtual environments that resemble feared real-life situations. The aim of the current study was to assess the extent to which VRET ...gains can be observed in real-life situations. We conducted a meta-analysis of clinical trials applying VRET to specific phobias and measuring treatment outcome by means of behavioral laboratory tests or recordings of behavioral activities in real-life. Data sources were searches of databases (Medline, PsycInfo, and Cochrane). We included in total 14 clinical trials on specific phobias. Results revealed that patients undergoing VRET did significantly better on behavioral assessments following treatment than before treatment, with an aggregated uncontrolled effect size of g = 1.23. Furthermore, patients undergoing VRET performed better on behavioral assessments at post-treatment than patients on wait-list (g = 1.41). Additionally, results of behavioral assessment at post-treatment and at follow-up revealed no significant differences between VRET and exposure in vivo (g = −0.09 and 0.53, respectively). Finally, behavioral measurement effect sizes were similar to those calculated from self-report measures. The findings demonstrate that VRET can produce significant behavior change in real-life situations and support its application in treating specific phobias.
•Virtual reality interventions can lead to behavioral change in daily life.•Virtual reality interventions for specific phobias are as effective as traditional behavior therapy.•More research is needed using rigorous methodology.
Virtual reality (VR) technology has emerged as a promising tool for studying and rehabilitating gait and balance impairments in people with Parkinson disease (PD) as it allows users to be engaged in ...an enriched and highly individualized complex environment. This Review examines the rationale and evidence for using VR in the assessment and rehabilitation of people with PD, makes recommendations for future research and discusses the use of VR in the clinic. In the assessment of people with PD, VR has been used to manipulate environments to enhance study of the behavioural and neural underpinnings of gait and balance, improving understanding of the motor-cognitive neural circuitry involved. Despite suggestions that VR can provide rehabilitation that is more effective and less labour intensive than non-VR rehabilitation, little evidence exists to date to support these claims. Nevertheless, much unrealized potential exists for the use of VR to provide personalized assessment and rehabilitation that optimizes motor learning in both the clinic and home environments and adapts to changes in individuals over time. Design of such systems will require collaboration between all stakeholders to maximize useability, engagement, safety and effectiveness.
This study explores players’ fright reactions and coping strategies in an immersive virtual reality (VR) horror game. Based on Slater’s theory of virtual reality, two dimensions of fear elements in ...the VR game−the fear of place illusion (PI) and the plausibility illusion (PSI) −were identified by playing a virtual reality survival horror game with a sample of 145 students. Participants reported greater fear toward PSI elements than toward PI elements. Fear of PSI elements positively and strongly predicted disengagement coping strategies and overall fear. Among coping strategies, players mainly adopted approach strategies, followed by avoidance (disengagement and denial), and self-help strategies. A “self-talk” strategy, newly identified in this study, has been reported as an effective means to cope with mediated threat in VR games. Regarding individual differences, sensation seeking and neuroticism influenced participants’ coping strategies and fear. Additionally, males and females employed different coping strategies. Very few students experienced next-day fright, which consists mostly of cognitive reactions and VR-related reactions, such as the Tetris effect and the fear of being attacked from the back. Theoretical frameworks regarding fear elements and coping reactions are proposed to aid future research. Implications for academia, fear conditioning for training, and marketing campaigns are discussed.
•Fear elements consisted of place illusion and plausibility illusion dimensions.•Plausibility illusion elements induced more fear than place illusion elements.•Coping strategies include self-help, approach, and avoidance dimensions.•Very few participants experienced next-day fright, most of which was cognitive.•Virtual reality horror games are effective in inducing mediated frights.
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