Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Jul 25, 2019
Date Accepted: Mar 21, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Virtual Reality Games to Enhance Positive Emotions and Decrease Anxiety: Comparing the Efficacy of a Casual Video Game and an Exergame
ABSTRACT
Background:
Different genres of video games have proved capable of eliciting positive emotions and decreasing anxiety in the players, especially casual video games and exergames. However, few studies have been conducted on this specific subject, and no research has yet tried to compare the ability of these particular genres of video game to elicit positive emotions or diminish anxiety in the players. Furthermore, in the last few years, the introduction of interactive technologies, especially virtual reality, into the gaming market has dramatically altered the traditional concept of video games, by making the body of the player the main instrument of interaction. Given the unique features of virtual reality in terms of interaction and its ability to completely immerse the individual into the game, this technology should increase the propensity for video games to effectively elicit positive emotions and decrease anxiety in the players. However, to date, few studies have investigated the ability of virtual reality games to induce positive emotions, and the possible effect of this new type of video game in diminishing anxiety has not been yet tested.
Objective:
This within-subjects study aimed to explore the ability of commercial virtual reality games in inducing positive emotions and diminishing state anxiety of the players, comparing the effects of two different genres (i.e., an exergame vs. a casual game).
Methods:
Thirty-six young adults played in virtual reality a casual game (Fruit Ninja VR) and an exergame (Audioshield). The Visual Analogue Scale and the STAI-Y1 were used to assess positive and negative emotion, and state anxiety.
Results:
Results of GLM for repeated measures revealed a statistically significant increase in the intensity of happiness (p < .01)and surprise (p < .01), and in parallel, a significant decrease of fear (p < .05) and sadness (p < .05) reported by the users. In addition, the results showed a significant decrease in perceived state anxiety after game play, assessed with both the STAI-Y1 (p < .05) and the VAS-A (p < .01). Finally, results showed a greater efficacy of the exergame compared to the casual game both for eliciting positive emotions (p < .05), and in the reduction of sadness (p < .05) and state anxiety, as measured by the STAY-Y2 (p < .05).
Conclusions:
The two main principal findings of this study are the following: (a) virtual reality video games appear to be effective tools to elicit positive emotions and to decrease negative emotions and state anxiety in individuals;(b) the video game genre has a crucial effect in determining the ability of a game to improve positive emotions and decrease state anxiety of the players
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