Quality of Experience in Virtual Environments

In this chapter, we present a new theoretical and methodological approach to the study of presence and virtual experience. More specifically, our work aims at analyzing the quality of experience associated with virtual environments (VEs), in its emotional, cognitive and motivational components. Specific research instruments have been developed and widely used to study the quality of subjective experience, emphasizing the active role of individual in selecting environmental information. As concerns studies on virtual reality (VR), this holistic approach allows researchers to investigate the subjective perception of virtual events and settings, thus permitting comparisons across different tasks and environments. In addition, it provides information on personal factors such as the motivational pattern, the degree of perceived immersion in the environment, the relevance of the activity to individual’s short and long-term goals. In the first part of the chapter, we describe how virtual experience has been studied so far and provide the theoretical bases of the proposed approach. Then we present the research tools that we intend to use to analyze the quality of virtual experience: the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and the Flow Questionnaire (FQ). Finally, we explain how this approach can offer suggestions for research and practice in the development of virtual environments fostering users’ engagement and empowerment.