The Effects of Immersion on Harm-inducing Factors in Virtual Slot Machines

Heidrich, David; Oberdörfer, Sebastian; Latoschik, Marc Erich

doi:10.1109/vr.2019.8798021

Cited by 8 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The results indicate an impairing effect of higher immersion on IGT decision-making. This result aligns with a similar study showing a negative effect of higher immersion on the risk potential of virtual gambling (Heidrich et al, 2019). In comparison to desktop-3D, wearing a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) increases a user's visual angle on the VE.…”

Section: Immersive Virtual Realitysupporting

confidence: 88%

“…3) We further recommend that the visual angle on a game should be considered when assessing the overall risk potential of a VR gambling game. Research already demonstrates a higher risk potential of gambling games when played in immersive VR (Heidrich et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A higher risk potential results in a higher chance to cause gambling related harm. Research already demonstrates an increased risk potential of a gambling game when played in immersive VR (Heidrich et al, 2019). Hence, it is crucial to investigate whether immersion influences other human factors, such as decision-making, that contribute to the risk of gambling in VR.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Enchanted by Your Surrounding? Measuring the Effects of Immersion and Design of Virtual Environments on Decision-Making

Oberdörfer

Heidrich

Birnstiel

et al. 2021

Front. Virtual Real.

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Impaired decision-making leads to the inability to distinguish between advantageous and disadvantageous choices. The impairment of a person’s decision-making is a common goal of gambling games. Given the recent trend of gambling using immersive Virtual Reality it is crucial to investigate the effects of both immersion and the virtual environment (VE) on decision-making. In a novel user study, we measured decision-making using three virtual versions of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The versions differed with regard to the degree of immersion and design of the virtual environment. While emotions affect decision-making, we further measured the positive and negative affect of participants. A higher visual angle on a stimulus leads to an increased emotional response. Thus, we kept the visual angle on the Iowa Gambling Task the same between our conditions. Our results revealed no significant impact of immersion or the VE on the IGT. We further found no significant difference between the conditions with regard to positive and negative affect. This suggests that neither the medium used nor the design of the VE causes an impairment of decision-making. However, in combination with a recent study, we provide first evidence that a higher visual angle on the IGT leads to an effect of impairment.

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Section: Immersive Virtual Realitysupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Enchanted by Your Surrounding? Measuring the Effects of Immersion and Design of Virtual Environments on Decision-Making

Oberdörfer

Heidrich

Birnstiel

et al. 2021

Front. Virtual Real.

Self Cite

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“…Therefore, we follow the approach suggested by Heidrich et al (2019). They propose to measure specific psychological factors capable of causing harm in the context of playing EGMs.…”

Section: Harm-inducing Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Higher harm-inducing factors potentially indicate a higher risk potential of gambling. Recent research shows a higher risk potential of a slot machine when played in VR than on desktop (Heidrich et al, 2019). Also, research revealed a negatively influenced decision-making in a gambling context in VR (Oberdörfer et al, 2020) potentially caused by an increased visual angle on the stimulus (Oberdörfer et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodied Gambling—Investigating the Influence of Level of Embodiment, Avatar Appearance, and Virtual Environment Design on an Online VR Slot Machine

Oberdörfer

Schraudt

Latoschik

2022

Front. Virtual Real.

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Slot machines are one of the most played games by players suffering from gambling disorder. New technologies like immersive Virtual Reality (VR) offer more possibilities to exploit erroneous beliefs in the context of gambling. Recent research indicates a higher risk potential when playing a slot machine in VR than on desktop. To continue this investigation, we evaluate the effects of providing different degrees of embodiment, i.e., minimal and full embodiment. The avatars used for the full embodiment further differ in their appearance, i.e., they elicit a high or a low socio-economic status. The virtual environment (VE) design can cause a potential influence on the overall gambling behavior. Thus, we also embed the slot machine in two different VEs that differ in their emotional design: a colorful underwater playground environment and a virtual counterpart of our lab. These design considerations resulted in four different versions of the same VR slot machine: 1) full embodiment with high socio-economic status, 2) full embodiment with low socio-economic status, 3) minimal embodiment playground VE, and 4) minimal embodiment laboratory VE. Both full embodiment versions also used the playground VE. We determine the risk potential by logging gambling frequency as well as stake size, and measuring harm-inducing factors, i.e., dissociation, urge to gamble, dark flow, and illusion of control, using questionnaires. Following a between groups experimental design, 82 participants played for 20 game rounds one of the four versions. We recruited our sample from the students enrolled at the University of Würzburg. Our safety protocol ensured that only participants without any recent gambling activity took part in the experiment. In this comparative user study, we found no effect of the embodiment nor VE design on neither the gambling frequency, stake sizes, nor risk potential. However, our results provide further support for the hypothesis of the higher visual angle on gambling stimuli and hence the increased emotional response being the true cause for the higher risk potential.

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An Approach to Investigate an Influence of Visual Angle Size on Emotional Activation During a Decision-Making Task

Oberdörfer

Birnstiel

Steinhaeusser

et al. 2023

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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The Effects of Immersion on Harm-inducing Factors in Virtual Slot Machines

Cited by 8 publications

References 54 publications

Enchanted by Your Surrounding? Measuring the Effects of Immersion and Design of Virtual Environments on Decision-Making

Enchanted by Your Surrounding? Measuring the Effects of Immersion and Design of Virtual Environments on Decision-Making

Embodied Gambling—Investigating the Influence of Level of Embodiment, Avatar Appearance, and Virtual Environment Design on an Online VR Slot Machine

An Approach to Investigate an Influence of Visual Angle Size on Emotional Activation During a Decision-Making Task

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