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The pleasure of being (there?): an explorative study into the effects of presence and identification on the enjoyment of an interactive theatrical performance using omnidirectional video

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Abstract

This study explores how participants in an immersive theatrical performance perceive their role in the virtual environment (VE) and the effects of this perception on how they experience the performance as a whole. Using a quasi-experimental 2 × 2 design, narrative and task-based search was manipulated to explore the effects on spatial presence, social presence, identification and enjoyment. Results show that the effect of spatial presence on enjoyment of the performance is entirely mediated by identification with the role of the self in the VE. This could have interesting consequences for the experience of more narrative VE’s and suggests that the role of identification is something to explore further in future presence research.

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Acknowledgments

This study took place within the xTV project. This project is co-funded by iMinds, a research institute founded by the Flemish Government, and project support of IWT for the companies participating in it (see http://www.ibbt.be/en/projects/overview-projects/p/detail/xtv-2 for a project description and full list of partners). We would like to thank CREW, in particular Hilde Teuchies and Eric Joris for their cooperation and giving us the chance to study one of their performances. Anissa All, Lotte Vermeulen and Frederik Van Den Bosch for helping with the collection of data. Joke Durnez for her help with the mediation analysis and Jo Pierson of iMinds-SMIT for feedback and comments on this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. iMinds-MICT, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Jan Decock & Jan Van Looy

  2. iMinds-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Lizzy Bleumers

  3. iMinds-EDM, University of Hasselt, Hasselt, Belgium

    Philippe Bekaert

Authors
  1. Jan Decock
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  2. Jan Van Looy
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  3. Lizzy Bleumers
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  4. Philippe Bekaert
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Correspondence to Jan Decock.

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Decock, J., Van Looy, J., Bleumers, L. et al. The pleasure of being (there?): an explorative study into the effects of presence and identification on the enjoyment of an interactive theatrical performance using omnidirectional video. AI & Soc 29, 449–459 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-013-0487-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-013-0487-6

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