Nelson Zagalo discusses the intersection of virtual reality (VR) and engagement, emphasizing the role of gamification in enhancing user interaction through quantifiable outcomes and structured feedback. He highlights the importance of incorporating narrative and playful activities to maintain engagement, arguing that traditional game structures can lead to repetitive experiences that diminish interest. The document advocates for a blend of games, stories, and creative play to foster deeper user involvement in VR environments.

1. VR Engagement
Nelson Zagalo, University of Aveiro - Portugal
27 April 2018, Saint Petersburg, Russia
VR/AR Association & ITMO University

2. Interaction Design is part of Human–Computer Interaction, and in my case, my
particular research work is done in specificities of Engagement.

3. Why add Games to VR?

4. What is a Game?
“A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial
conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.”
Salen & Zimmerman (2004)

5. Points
Pointing
Victory state
Reward
Feedback
Progress
Value
Leaderboards
Leadership
Social Feedback
Comparison
Social Pressure
Badges
Achievement
Visual representation
Flexibility
Social Status
Credential
Collection
What are these “quantifiable outcomes”?

6. More or less like current school systems, no?
Points
Exams
Tests
Essays
Leaderboards
Class Grades
School Grades
District Grades
Country Grades
Badges
Class Years: K1 - K12
Honor Boards
10/1020/20
Gamification is so profound in our schools, that students will not work toward extra-
curricular assignments if it is not quantified by the school.
The samw applies to the rest of our working society, just exchange points by money.

7. Dopamine
For every outcome achieved, a drop of dopamine (the pleasure hormone) is released
in our brain flow.
How does this “quantification” works?

8. What are these “outcomes” good for?
Engagement
We engage easily when there’s something to gain, when the outcome is quantifiable,
when we get ANSWERS.

9. What are the problems of using just Games?

10. You get happy because you get feedback, the answers, but you are
only following structured paths.
…you don’t get the chance to question it, because of that, it
becomes repetitive, and engagement is lost.

11. How videogame industry reacted to repetition?
+NARRATIVE, complexer story layers and affective motives

12. Stories are made of sequences of progressive and causal events, this means:
for every event presented, a cause (an answer) must exist, and must always be
given. You’ll then stay engaged until you get your answer (the climatic end).
Why do we engage with stories?

13. How game industry reacted to lack of questioning?
+PLAY, build your own games, build your own worlds

14. Why do we engage with Play?
The free and spontaneous action acts toward designing possible and
achievable activities.
You incrementally evolve your actions and goals, at your own specific
rhythm. You create your own “scaffolds” (Bruner) you design your own
“zone of proximal development” (Vigotsky).
You feel advancing, progressing, step by step (like making stories in
your mind), this pushes you to maintain your self-motivation active.

15. To increase the interest in you VR
products and artworks, thus the human
engagement, add to it games, but don’t
stop there, consider adding:
Stories and Playful Activities

16. Nelson Zagalo, nzagalo@ua.pt
http://nelsonzagalo.googlepages.com
http://www.facebook.com/nelsonzagalo
VR Engagement