Resto Quest – A Serious Game on the Restorative Effects of Immersive Virtual Environments

Conference paper (2023)

Authors

Weilun Chen Student
Jeffrey Lim Student
Tim Polderdijk Student
Tom Saveur Student
Asror Wali Student
Suzanne Brinkman Universiteit Leiden
Ineke J.M. van der Ham Universiteit Leiden
Rafael Bidarra Computer Graphics and Visualisation - EEMCS
Research Group
Computer Graphics and Visualisation (EEMCS) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2023 Weilun Chen, Conchita Martin Hoogerwaard, Jeffrey Lim, Tim Polderdijk, Tom Saveur, Asror Wali, Suzanne Brinkman, Ineke J.M. van der Ham, Rafael Bidarra
DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37171-4_14
Serious Games Attention Restoration Theory Restorative Environments Virtual environments
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Published Date

2023

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Department

Intelligent Systems

Research Group

Computer Graphics and Visualisation

Abstract

Mostly, restorative environments, like parks and forests, are only thought of in the real world. However, one can wonder whether their restorative effects translate to a virtual world; and whether the environment itself makes any difference. In order to assess the possible translation of restorative properties from the real world to a virtual setting, we developed Resto Quest, a single-player, first-person exploration game, designed to investigate the possible restorative effects of both natural and urban virtual environments. Resto Quest is playable on a normal personal computer, and its main game play loop consists of exploring the environment, locating in it a task to accomplish, and completing a simple minigame. After completion of each minigame, a positive change in the scenery takes place. Evaluation of Resto Quest has shown that players found its game mechanics relaxing, and that the minigames offer balanced difficulty between two interchangeable environments.