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Feeling for Polygons:
Examining the effect of virtual reality video games on empathy for in-game characters
University of Amsterdam
Graduate School of Communication Entertainment Communication Master’s Thesis
Jacco Peek 10582568 Supervisor: J.S. Lemmens Date of completion: 28-06-2018
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Abstract
Empathy is an important skill in everyday life and experiencing other’s emotions through media entertainment might enhance this trait. Earlier studies in this field investigated the link between virtual reality and empathy, and between video games and other unique emotions to games. However, no study has tested if there is any difference in emotional impact between both media through feelings of presence in a virtual environment. An experiment was conducted among 67 participants who played the game Fallout 4 on either a TV or in VR, measuring empathy for in-game characters, arousal and enjoyment. Playing in VR had an indirect effect on feelings of empathy through feelings of presence, and feelings of presence fully mediated the effect on associative empathy. Playing in VR also had an effect on arousal, but arousal did not mediate the effect on empathy. Playing in VR also had no effect on
enjoyment. The results of our study implicate that virtual reality video games produce more feelings of empathy than regular video games, which may enhance trait empathy over time.
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Introduction
Video games are a unique form of entertainment because they are able to evoke different emotions than non-interactive forms of entertainment. For example, the feeling of pride is a result of dominance display among gamers who overcome challenges or when competing against others (Jansz, 2005). Or when placed in situations in which they clearly have to act morally wrong, players can experience guilt (Bowman, & Dogruel, 2012; Hartmann & Vorderer, 2010; Joeckel, Bowman & Dogruel, 2012; Jørgensen, 2016; Sherry, Lucas,
Greenberg, & Lachlan, 2006; Weaver & Lewis, 2012). Closely related to guilt is the feeling of regret, the emotion players experience when they felt they did something wrong and wish they had acted differently (Hartmann & Vorderer, 2010; Jørgensen, 2016). Most studies on the emotional effects gaming have been conducted with traditional screen-based gaming (Anderson et al.,2010). However, few studies have investigated virtual reality (VR) gaming and no studies compared possible differences in emotional responses between traditional games and virtual reality games (Diemer et al., 2015). Thus, the aim of this research is to investigate if gaming in virtual reality produces stronger emotions than traditional television (TV) gaming.
One widely discussed concept as a result of the immersive nature of virtual reality is presence, which has been described as the feeling of being in a different environment and losing track of time and the actual world (Slater & Willbur, 1997). Presence seems to be a mediator between many effects of virtual reality on emotions, such as fear, anxiety, sadness, joy and relaxation (Diemer et al., 2015). This study specifically investigates if the impact of gaming in virtual reality on the emotional experience of empathy is bigger than gaming on a television. Empathy has roughly two forms that are closely related: trait empathy, being able to experience the thoughts and emotions of others and show compassion for them (Davis, 1994), and state empathy, feeling other’s emotions in specific situations (Shen, 2010). Trait
4 empathy is an important skill in many contexts and it has been proven that empathy training can be effective at increasing state empathy (Teding, van Berkhout, & Malouff, 2015). Seeing situations that people are not familiar with help shape or adjust mental representations in our brains, which results in a better understanding of similar situations in the future (Preston & De Waal, 2002; Preston, 2007). State empathy may occur during casual media use and is used to enhance trait empathy over time, for example during therapy (Day, Casey & Gerace, 2010, Seinfeld et al., 2018). This study investigates if video games can have a bigger impact on state empathy than gaming on regular screens because of feeling present in a virtual world.
In the past 35 years there has been a general decrease of empathy among American students (Konrath, O’Brien & Hsing, 2011). If this study may suggest that virtual reality can enhance empathy, it is not only beneficial for therapeutic fields, but also for society as a whole. When humans are motivated to see the perspective of others through virtual reality, empathy for others might increase (Shutter & Stilinović, 2017). Because of the expected effects of virtual reality on emotions through presence, this paper seeks to investigate whether medium type influences players’ experienced empathy for characters while playing video games:
RQ1: What is the effect of playing a video game in virtual reality on feelings of empathy for video game characters, compared to playing on a television?
Theoretical background
Feelings of Presence
Presence is sometimes confused with the concept of immersion (Georgiou & Kyza, 2017). Immersion is the ability of a medium to transfer users into the reality of a virtual world by replacing real-world stimuli with three dimensional environments and objects. Although the
5 concept is used in many contexts, in general it can be seen as a technical construct that
characterises the ability of the medium to absorb users (Slater & Wilbur, 1997). The more a device is capable of producing high fidelity sensory stimuli to ‘trick’ human brains into being in another environment, the more immersive it is (Slater, 2003). Some media are more
immersive than others, like contemporary video games are more immersive than movies, (Ermi & Mäyrä, 2005). Moreover, the resolution of the screen, frame rate, input latency, field of view and the accuracy of motion sensors make virtual reality the most immersive medium to date. While immersion is a technical characteristic of media, presence is the psychological experience of users being absorbed in another world. Users who experience presence during virtual reality have a sense of being in the virtual environment and lose track of time in the real world (Sas & O’Harew, 2003). Presence has also been conceptualised as consisting of three components: spatial presence, involvement and realness (Schubert, 2003). Of these three, spatial presence refers to the most common understanding of the concept, which is ‘sense of being there’. Users feel spatially surrounded by an environment and experience the ability to interact with it. The second component, involvement, refers to the attention of users for the virtual world, compared to the real world. People who are deeply involved in the experience lose track of the real-world time and place, similar to the state of ‘Gameflow’ (Chumbley & Griffiths 2003). Finally, realness is the degree of which users believe the virtual experience is real and consistent with the actual world. These three components of presence contribute to the player’s feeling of being present in a virtual world.
Several experiments that compared immersive media with less immersive media have established that virtual reality leads to stronger feelings of presence than media content on a television (Alshaer, Regenbrecht, & O’Hare, 2017; Lemmens & Sumter, 2018; Shin, 2017). Because of the stronger effects on presence found in these studies, it is expected that the current study will show a similar outcome..
6 H1: Playing a video game in virtual reality has a stronger effect on feelings of presence than playing on a TV
Virtual Reality and Empathy
The concept of presence has been linked to strong emotional responses in
entertainment and therapeutic contexts, such as fear, anxiety, hope and sadness (Diemer et al., 2015). According to some scholars, feelings of presence are a necessary mediator between media content and emotions in general (Price et al., 2011). For example, Peperkorn et al. (2014) found that presence mediates the relationship between perceptual fear cues and expected emotional reactions, which suggest that presence mediates immersion and arousing emotions. Other studies found correlations between less arousing emotions and presence, such as sadness, joy and relaxation (Banos et al., 2004; Banos et al., 2008). However, in the study of Banos et al., (2004) there was no difference in emotional engagement between different levels of immersion that showed sad or neutral depictions of history, however no mediation of presence was found.
An emotion that has received relatively less attention in the context of presence is empathy, the main dependent variable in this study. In general empathy is described as a human character trait, which is the ability to experience the thoughts and emotions of others and show compassion for them (Davis, 1994). In this study however, state empathy is
measured, the empathy for others during message processing. State empathy consists of three sub-dimensions of empathy: cognitive empathy (stepping in the shoes of another person), affective empathy (caring for one other’s emotions) and associative empathy (identifying with another person) (Shen, 2010). Cognitive empathy refers to the ability of people to take and comprehend the perspective of another person (Lazarus, 1991). Affective empathy is about sharing the feelings of others and caring for their misfortunes, also known as emotional
7 distress (Decety & Jackson, 2006). The third component, associative empathy is lesser known and somewhat similar to the concept of identification. Media users feel like they associate with media content, which functions as a form of social bonding with fictional characters in media entertainment (Cohen, 2006). State empathy is very relevant to this study because players are literally placed in the shoes of another person to experience a specific situation.
To date, very few experiments with virtual reality and empathy have been conducted and the ones that exist are exploratory in nature. For instance, Shutter and Stilinović (2017) compared the effect of a virtual reality experience of the Syrian war with a video version of these events on feelings of empathy among 24 Australian students. The virtual reality version let users walk alongside a young girl in a Syrian refugee camp to create a sense of poverty. Empathy was measured as empathic concern and perspective taking when processing the message, which is very similar to the dimensions of state empathy. The study found that both dimensions of empathy increased via feelings of engagement in virtual reality. A similar, within-subject experiment of Formosa, Morrison, Hill and Stone (2017) also found an increase in empathy after exposure to a virtual reality experience. This study conducted pre- and post-tests on knowledge, attitudes and empathic understanding of psychosis as a mental illness among 50 students. Although no proper control group was present, the researchers found significant increases in the three dependent variables, including empathy. This study shows that virtual reality can help produce empathy for people suffering from mental illness by letting users feel present in a virtual environment and experience symptoms in real life. Overall, early findings suggest that there is a mediating role of presence within the effect of immersive technology on empathy. Based on these findings and other studies that found a relationship between presence and emotions, hypothesis 2 states that feelings of presence mediate the effect of playing in virtual reality and empathy for in-game characters.
8 H2: The effect of playing in virtual reality on empathy for in-game characters is mediated by players’ feelings of presence.
In their review of studies that investigated emotions and feelings of presence, Diemer at al. (2015) concluded that presence mediates the effects of immersion on certain emotions, but also that the mechanism it might only work for emotions that are arousing in nature. Arousal is a physiological reaction to certain real life events or in-media events, and transfers to emotions of users, according to excitation transfer theory (Zillman, 1971). Excitation transfers onto emotions that follow the arousal and strengthens them. Arousal while playing in virtual reality is expected to produce faster heart rates, a lower heart rate variability (Scarpa, Tanaka & Haden, 2010) and higher skin conductance (Egan et al., 2016; Meyerbröker & Emmelkamp, 2018). In turn, as excitation transfer theory proposes that arousal in video games will be transferred to the emotion that follows, in this case empathy. This study expects that the responses that indicate increased physiological arousal of players will therefore mediate the effect of VR on Empathy.
H3: Arousal will mediate the effect of playing in VR on state empathy.
Virtual Reality and Enjoyment
Virtual reality may play a role in producing stronger emotions, but could also increase enjoyment of media entertainment in general. Literature suggests that uses and gratifications in entertainment are not merely about seeking pleasure (hedonia), but also about
meaningfulness and artistic appreciation (eudaimonia) (Oliver, 2008). Although sad or frightening media content involves negative emotions, users enjoy them because of the lessons and meaning they take out of it. Even very negative emotions, such as fear and emphatic distress, can be enjoyed because of the thrill of danger and the relief afterwards (Zillmann & Weaver, 1996). Feeling the fear and suspense of fictional characters during
9 thrilling media content, such as horror movies and action games, amplify the feelings of relief and enjoyment after exposure (Hoffner & Levine, 2005). Furthermore, Oliver (1993) explored the so-called ‘paradox of sad-film enjoyment’ and found that pleasure arising from sad
movies was stronger for people with more empathic concern. Schramm and Wirth (2008) build on this premise by exploring appraisals of sad movies and discovered that participants had the strongest empathic responses in the saddest film condition. Similarly, it is expected that more arousal while playing the video game will lead to more enjoyment afterwards. H4: More physiological arousal while playing leads to more enjoyment of the game than less physiological arousal.
Another factor that explains the enjoyment of media entertainment is the affective disposition theory. According to this theory, users form an emotional bond with fictional characters in media and react to the consequences of their actions throughout a narrative (Zillmann, 1991; Raney, 2008). It predicts that enjoyment increases when favoured characters experience positive outcomes or unfavourable characters experience negative outcomes. The moral judgement of fictional characters determines if which ‘side’ viewers or players take in the story. Zillmann links affective empathy to affective reactions when consuming media by being the bearing witness of other’s emotions (Zillmann, 1991). As some studies found that negative emotions are mediated by presence, this study expects that feelings of presence arising from playing in virtual reality not only lead to more state empathy, but also to more enjoyment.
H5: Stronger feelings of state empathy for in-game characters will lead to more enjoyment of playing the video game than weaker feelings of state empathy.
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Method
Sample
The study was conducted between April 12th 2018 and May 23rd 2018 among 67 participants. More than half of the participants were female (n= 38, 56,7%), almost all were students at the University of Amsterdam (n= 64, 94,1%), and 21 years old on average
(M=21,16, SD=2,63). The preferred language for the questionnaires was English (n = 51), and the biggest portion played video games a few times a year (n = 25, 36,2%). Participants were recruited through convenience sampling via social media, lectures and a website where students can sign up to participate in research. The only criterion for participating in the study was a lack of experience with the video game Fallout 4 (Bethesda, 2015) because knowledge of the emotional twists in the introduction of story might diminish the emotional impact. For compensation, participants received either two research credits for their bachelor study, or 10 euros. After random sampling, 33 (50%) were placed in the virtual reality condition and 34 (50%) in the television condition.
Procedure
Participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions (VR, TV) after arrival at the lab. The VR-condition was played on a pc with the HTC Vive, motion controllers and earbuds, and the TV-condition was played on a pc with an Xbox One-controller, earbuds and a 32-inch full HD television. Participants were asked to sit down and provide informed consent, of which a version was sent in advance. After that, the controls and important events of the experiment were discussed. Participants were asked to not mind the skill points they had to assign in the game and to just fill in any name they preferred. Both were not relevant for this study. Also they were instructed to only select their preferred gender and proceed, instead of customizing their character. When the male character was chosen, the female character would fulfil the role as wife and when the female was chosen, it would be reversed.
11 Participants were shown the right buttons to use, how to assign the skill points, the need to play with their baby, and were informed about the character creation screen and that the play session was over after the capsule scene. The instruction of the controls was elaborated upon after several participants were stuck at the beginning, especially in the virtual reality
condition. This involved reminding participants to stay in the optimal space for the sensors, how to select a character, how to walk and turn the camera, and how exactly to assign the skill points. Participants were comforted that they could always ask for help, but that it was
optimal to stay in the experience. Some participants needed help during the character creation screen and when assigning the skill points, but all of them played the rest of game
independently.
After the instructions, the Empatica E4 wristband was connected to the iOS application and placed on the preferred hand of the participant. It was made sure that the electrodes made contact with the skin and were not too tight. The wristband was placed in the most optimal position, parallel to the first two fingers. In the VR condition, the virtual reality headset was adjusted to the head size of participants and if necessary the pupilar distance was reconfigured to make the vision sharper.
The stimulus material consisted of the regular pc version and the virtual reality version of the action role playing game Fallout 4. Both versions are identical in terms of story and events to make sure both conditions got the same experience. Pre-tests indicated two
emotional scenes in the first moments of the game, which was the drop of a bomb and losing spouse and child.
While playing, players experienced some scenes in the house by walking around and interacting with objects and characters. After playing with a baby and conversating with their spouse, players were triggered to run out of the house to a vault because of a nuclear attack. Next, the two arousing moments followed: the detonation of a nuclear bomb exploding while
12 everyone outside dies and the kidnapping of their baby and the murder on their spouse.
During the play session, heart rate and skin conductance were continuously monitored to make sure it recorded the information. The exact times of the two dramatic moments were encountered were noted down. First, when the bomb drops until 20 seconds after, and second, when a mysterious voice starts speaking until 60 seconds after. As the second moment
involves elongated drama, the time of measurement was longer.
After the play session, participants were asked how they felt and were offered water and a candy bar before filling out the questionnaire. To control for novelty of playing video games and playing in virtual reality participants were asked to fill out their experience with both media. While filling out the survey the participants were given some privacy and participants were thanked for participation in the study afterwards.
Measures
Presence. Presence was measured by using a modified version of the Igroup Presence
Questionnaire (Schubert, Friedmann & Regenbrecht, 1999), one of the most validated scales in the field ( = .78, M = 4.10, SD = 0.69). The questionnaire consists of fourteen items that load on three subscales: spatial presence, involvement and perceived realism. All fourteen items of the Igroup Presence Questionnaire are a collection of several other presence
questionnaires (Schubert, Friedmann & Regenbrecht (2001). The items of the three subscales were adjusted by explicitly mentioning the world of Fallout 4. Both the subscales and the whole scale were used as dependent variables.
Spatial Presence is the essential part of Slater and Wilbur’s theory of presence (1997), which concerns the sense of physically being in the virtual world The question ‘How real did the virtual world seem to you?’ was deleted because it was identical to another question, only with different answer options. Sample items of the four remaining items included: ‘I somehow
13 felt the virtual world surrounded me’ and ‘I had a sense of being in the virtual world of Fallout.’ ( = .85, M = 5.30, SD = 1.03). Involvement contained four items and concerns the attention users have for a virtual world, compared to the real world . Questions such as ‘I was completely captivated by the virtual world’ and ‘I was aware of the real environment.’ were used as measurement items ( = .86, M = 4.62, SD = 1.48). Realism contained three items and consists of the judgement of how realistic the virtual world is perceived to be. The concept was measured by questions such as ‘My experience with the virtual world was consistent with the real world.’ and ‘The virtual world seemed real to me.’ ( = .71, M = 3.23, SD = 1.06).
State Empathy. State Empathy concerns feelings of empathy participants experienced
for the in-game characters. Shen’s (2010) questionnaire for empathy during media message processing was used to measure feelings of empathy for the in-game characters ( = .84, M = 4.64, SD = .82). The questionnaire consisted of twelve items that loaded on three subscales. Cognitive Empathy means stepping in the shoes of another person and consisted of four items, but was not reliable as a subscale and was dropped because of a lack of items after removing questions. Sample questions of Cognitive Empathy are: ‘I can see the character’s point of view.’ and ‘The character’s reactions to the situation are understandable’ ( = .43, M = 5.20, SD = .22). Affective Empathy measures caring for one other’s emotions and consisted of four items. Examples for Affective Empathy are: ‘The character’s emotions are genuine.’, ‘I can feel the character’s emotions.’ and ‘I can relate to what the character was going through in game’ ( = .86, M = 4.52, SD = 1.06). Associative Empathy (identification) consisted of three items. Questions for Associative Empathy included: ‘I can relate to what the character was going through in the message.’ and ‘I can identify with the situation in the game’ ( = .81, M = 4.62, SD = 1,42).
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Trait empathy. Empathy as a trait was also measured by using the established
Interpersonal Reactivity Index by Davis (1994) ( = .81, M = 4.62, SD = 1.48). The scale consisted of 28 items that loaded on four subscales. Perspective Taking is the ability to take the other’s perspective and consisted of seven items. Examples for Perspective Taking are: ‘I sometimes find it difficult to see things from the "other guy's" point of view.’ and ‘I try to look at everybody's side of a disagreement before I make a decision’ ( = .77, M = 5.10, SD = .87). Empathic Concern, feeling for other’s misfortunes, consisted of five items. The item ‘I would describe myself as a pretty soft-hearted person.’ was removed to consider the scale reliable. Examples for Empathic Concern are: ‘When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective for them.’ and ‘I am often quite touched by things that I see happen’ ( = .68, M = 5.30, SD = .86). Personal Distress measures feelings of anxiety in tense situations and consisted of six items ( = .82, M = 3.76, SD = .93). ‘When I see someone get hurt, I tend to remain calm.’ was removed to consider the scale reliable. Another example of the scale is the question: ‘I tend to lose control during emergencies.’ Finally, Fantasy, in this case tendencies to transpose in the feelings of fictional characters, consisted of five items. To be considered reliable, the items ‘I am usually objective when I watch a movie or play, and I don't often get completely caught up in it.’, and ‘Becoming extremely involved in a good book or movie is somewhat rare for me.’ were removed. Other example questions for Fantasy were: ‘I really get involved with the feelings of the characters in a novel.’ and ‘I am usually
objective when I watch a movie or play, and I don't often get completely caught up in it’ ( = .75, M = 5.00, SD = 1.04).
Arousal. Arousal was measured as the skin conductance levels of participants with the
Empatica E4 wristband. Data was monitored on the Empatica Realtime application for iOS. Electrodermal activity (EDA) was measured and manually analysed using the online tool Empatica Connect and the raw files were cleaned and analysed in Microsoft Excell. EDA was
15 measured in microSiemens (µS ), which is the common measurement unit for conductivity for liquids (M= .30 SD= 1.60; M= .38 SD= 1.65). First, the mean EDA of the playtime before the two emotional moments was calculated as a baseline. Because the Empatica E4 measures EDA in 4 hertz (four measures per second), the exact timeframes were found for every participant by multiplying the seconds by 4. After the baseline, the mean EDA for the two arousing moments were calculated in the two timeframes for the emotional moments and compared to the baseline. A mean difference between the baseline and the emotional
moments was calculated for each condition. This method accounts for tonic increases in skin conductance levels, which are gradual increases that are associated with a mediated event. Phasic changes are peaks in EDA caused by emotional moments, such as those in Fallout 4 (Braithwaite, Watson, Jones, & Rowe, 2013). One participant was left out of the analysis because the data was not uploaded due to a lost internet connection.
Enjoyment. Finally, enjoyment was measured with a scale of five items, based on the
scale of Skalski & Whitbred (2010). It measured to which degree participants enjoyed playing Fallout 4 in virtual reality or not. Examples are: ‘I liked playing the game.’ and ‘Playing the game was a pleasurable experience’ ( = .88, M = 5.56, SD = 1.14).
Results
The most relevant variables are presented in the correlation matrix below (Table 1). Because a correlation between gender and Empathic Concern, Perspective Taking and Fantasy was found, the effect of participants’ gender on those traits was investigated. T-tests indicated that female participants scored higher on Empathic Concern (M=5.55, SD=.88), than men did (M=4.97, SD=.74), t=-2,76, p=.007, 95% CI [-.56, .20]. Women also scored higher on Perspective Taking (M=5.28, SD=.69) than men did (M = 4.77 SD = .69) t=-2.18, p=.018,
16 95% CI [-.51, .21]. Finally, women also scored higher on Fantasy (M=5.22, SD= .17) than males did (M = 4.68, SD = .95) t=-2,76, p=.033, 95% CI [-1.04, -.05].
Table 1. Correlation matrix between all relevant variable
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 1 TV=1 VR=2 - 2 Gender .01 - 3 Spatial Presence .29* -.05 - 4 Involvement .44** .03 .53** - 5 Realness .04 -.15 .53** .31* - 6 Affective Empathy -.19 .12 .30* .19 .44** - 7 State Empathy .12 .06 .52** .43** .60** .72** - 8 Presence .37** -.15 .80** .66** .77** .31* .57** - 9 Associative Empathy .25* -.03 .33** .43** .54** .19 .77** .53** - 10 Perspective Taking .01 .29* .04 .02 -.07 .12 .15 -.04 .07 - 11 Fantasy -.06 .26* .24 .07 .08 .14 .32* .11 .25* .32** - 12 Empatic Concern .01 .33** .30* .16 -.03 .21 .19 .13 .02 .44** .20 - 13 PersonalDistress .05 .04 .19 .14 .13 .05 .15 .14 .12 -.22 -.11 -.02 - 14 Trait Empathy .02 .10 .29* .13 .22 .06 .34** .22 .37** .45** .67** .05 .31* - 15 Enjoyment -.01 -.18 .18 .19 .32* .21 .27* .26* .18 -.11 .19 -.14 -.12 -.01 - 16 Skin conductance 1 .33** -.01 -.02 .08 -.03 -.08 -.05 .03 .01 .02 -.06 -.15 -.08 -.06 .06 - 17 Skin conductance 2 .42** -.10 .06 .11 .07 -.07 -.01 .17 .04 -.03 .02 -.18 -.09 -.13 .17 .73** - Note: *** p <.001. ** p <.01. * p <.05 VR and Presence
An independent samples t-test was executed to test hypothesis 1. In general there was a positive effect of VR on feelings of Presence among players. Those who played Fallout 4 in virtual reality had higher feelings of Presence (M= 4.33, SD= .60) than those who played on a TV (M= 3.82, SD= .70) t (67) = -3.01, p <.005. We also found that VR had an effect on the subscales Spatial Presence. Those who played the game in virtual reality had higher feelings of Spatial Presence (M= 5.63, SD= .90) and felt more involved in the world (M= 5.25, SD= 1.35) than those who played on a TV (M= 5.03, SD= 1.07; M= 3.98, SD= 1.34) t (67) = -2.33, p= .023, t (67) = -3.73, p< .005. The effect was small, Cohen’s d= 0.18. However, no effect
17 on Realness was found t (67) = -.33, p= .740. . Hypothesis 1 expected that playing in VR had an effect on feelings of presence, and was therefore accepted.
Presence and State Empathy
To analyse the potential mediation of Presence between the effect of VR on State Empathy, each effect was tested separately (a, b and c) in a linear regression analysis with Condition as a dummy variable, as described in the method of Baron & Kenny (1986). First the direct effect of VR on State Empathy was measured, which did not give significant results, B= .19, t=.91, p= .37, 95% CI [-0.31, .62], R2=.14. Although a mediation could not be found on State Empathy, there was a significant effect of VR on Presence and an effect of Presence on State Empathy. Those who played in VR had higher feelings of presence (M=4.33, SD= .60) than those who played on a TV (M=3.82, SD= .70) B= .51, t= 3.01, p< .005, 95% CI [.17, .85], R2=.14, and those who felt more present (M=4.07, SD= .70) had higher levels of State empathy (M=4.66, SD= .82) B=.67, t=5.37, p<0.005, R2=.33. Therefore we assume that the effect of VR on State Empathy goes via Presence, which is an indirect effect (Preacher & Hayes, 2004).
Next, we tested for a mediation with the subscales of State Empathy and found a significant effect of VR on Associative Empathy (c). Participants who played the game in virtual reality could associate more with the events (M= 4.45, SD= 1.39) than those who played the game on a TV(M=3.76, SD= 1.39) B= .71, t=2.10, p= .042, 95% CI [.03, 1.38], R2=.06. The direct effect of VR on Presence (a), as well as the effect of Presence on Associative Empathy (b) were significant. Those who played in VR had higher feelings of presence (M=4.33, SD= .60) than those who played on a TV (M=3.82, SD= .70) and participants with higher feelings of Presence (M= 4.10, SD=.70) could associate more with the characters (M= 4.14, SD=1.42) B= 1.10, t= 4.60, p<.005, 95% CI [.61, 1.52] R2= .28, B=
18 .51, t= 3.01, p< .005, 95% CI [.17, .85], R2=.14. 14 Percent of the variance in Presence was explained by VR and 28 percent of the variance in Associative Empathy was explained by Presence. After the separate measures, the effect of VR and Presence on Associative Empathy together was tested and compared to the direct effect of VR (c’). When controlled for
Presence, the effect of VR became non-significant, b*=.11, t=.95, p= 35, 95% CI [-.36, 1.00], R2=.29. According to Sobel’s Z-test the effect was significantly mediated by presence, z= 2.56, p=.010 (Sobel, 1982). The mediation also was significant according to the PROCESS macro for SPSS 25, as the bootstrapped confidence interval did not contain zero, 95% CI [.17,.90] (Hayes, 2012). Hypothesis 2 was partly accepted because a full mediation between VR and State Empathy was not found.
B= .71 (c), b*=.11 ( c’)
B= .51 (a) B= 1.10 (b)
Figure 1. Conceptual model depicting the mediation of Presence between VR and Associative Empathy.
Finally, the effect of VR on Associative Empathy was controlled for Trait Empathy, but no significant moderation was found, F (12, 67)= 1.56, p=.197. Participants who were more empathic themselves did not feel more identification with the characters in Fallout 4, or the other way around.
VR and Arousal
The method of Baron and Kenny (1986) was also applied to the mediation of Arousal between the effect of VR on presence. A significant positive effect of VR on Arousal (a) was found for
VR
Presence
Associative Empathy
19 moment 1, B= 1.07, p=.006, 95% CI (.32, 1.81), R2= .11 and moment 2, B= 1.04, p<.005, 95% CI (.62, 2.10) R2= .17. Those who played Fallout 4 in virtual reality had increased skin conductance levels when the nuclear bomb dropped (M=.84, SD= 1.98) and when their spouse was killed and the child was kidnapped (M=1.07, SD=1.93). On contrast, those who played the game on a TV had a no increases in skin conductance levels in both moments (M=-.22, SD= .89; M=-29, SD= .96) when compared to the baseline level of skin conductance. In figure 2 the average EDA scores and the baseline for each arousing moment are displayed, grouped by condition.
Next the effect of Presence on Arousal was tested, but no significant results were found (b), B= .05, t=.21, p= .83, 95% CI [-.57, .71], B= .42, t=1.30, p= .20, 95% CI [-.23, 1.10]. Finally, no direct effect was found of Arousal on State Empathy for moment 1 (c), B= -.10, t=-.35, p= .73, 95% CI [-.64, .45] and moment 2 B= -.02 t=-.06, p= .86, 95% CI [-.57, .54]. Because there only was an effect of VR on Arousal and the other effects were not significant, no mediation could be found. Hypothesis 3 was not accepted.
20 Figure 2. Overview of EDA for each arousing moment per condition in siemens.
B= 1.07, B= 1.04 (a) B= .05, B= .42 (b) (b’)
Figure 3. Conceptual model depicting the mediation of Arousal (moment 1, moment 2) between VR and State Empathy.
Enjoyment
To test hypothesis 4 and 5 linear regression analyses were conducted. First, the effect of Arousal on Enjoyment was measured, but no significant differences of either of the arousing moments were found, b*= .15, t= 1.14, p= .26, 95% CI [-.18, .64]; b*= .16, t= .97,
2,63 1,66 3,48 1,44 3,68 1,35 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 VR TV
Baseline EDA EDA Moment 1 EDA Moment 2
VR
Arousal
State Empathy B= -.10, B= -.02 (c)
21 p= .33, 95% CI [-.09, .26]. Those who experienced higher levels of arousal did not enjoy the game more than participants with lower levels of arousal. Hypothesis 4 was therefore refuted.
Next, the effect of State Empathy on Enjoyment was measured, which revealed a significant effect, B=.38, t=2.12, p= .039, 95% CI [.02, .75], R2= .07. Those with greater feelings of empathy for the characters in the game (M=.66, SD=.82) enjoyed playing the game significantly more (M= 5.60, SD= .1.14), but only 7 percent of the enjoyment was explained by feelings of empathy. Therefore Hypothesis 5 was accepted. Also, the effect of VR on Enjoyment was measured, but no significant differences were found between playing in virtual reality (M= 5.58, SD= 1.07) and playing on TV (M= 5.61, SD= 1.22), t (65)= .06, p=.95, 95% CI [-.54, .58].
Conclusion and Discussion
The main aim of this study was to investigate the potential effect of playing a virtual reality game on empathy for characters via feelings of presence. As expected, playing a virtual reality version of Fallout 4 elicited stronger feelings of presence (Slater & Wilbur, 1997) in the virtual world than playing on a TV. An indirect effect of VR on state empathy was found because playing in virtual reality had a direct effect on presence, which in turn had a direct effect on state empathy. Also, feelings of presence mediated an increase in associative
empathy, a subscale of state empathy (Shen, 2010). No interaction effect of empathy as a trait was found on any of the effects. However, female participants scored significantly higher on empathic concern, perspective taking and fantasy as empathy traits, which is supported by many studies (Van der Graaff et al., 2014; Schulte-Rüther et al., 2007; Toussaint & Webb, 2005). Lastly, playing in VR had an effect on arousal, but did not mediate the effect on state empathy. Also, playing in VR had no effect on enjoyment of the game.
22 predecessor of empathy (Formosa, Morrison, Hill and Stone, 2017; Shutter and Stilinović, 2017) and other emotions (Diemer et al., 2015; Peperkorn et al., 2014; Price et al., 2011). People who felt more present had higher levels of empathy for the characters, which implies such feelings in media entertainment are potentially useful in increasing empathy. Although there was no full mediation between the effect of playing in VR and state empathy, playing in virtual reality lead to a higher sense of presence, which in turn lead to empathy. Therefore we assume that there is an indirect effect of VR on state empathy (Preacher & Hayes, 2004). This result is further evidence that presence produces stronger emotions, in this case empathy.
The fact that presence fully mediated the effect between playing in VR and associative empathy is especially interesting, as this sub-dimension has received relatively less scientific attention than others (Davis, 1991). Associative empathy is originally derived from social bonding in groups, which includes reciprocal altruism and inclusive fitness. (Preston & de Waal, 2002). Associative empathy in media entertainment is seen as a form of identification with fictional characters and happens when humans process mediated messages according to their own representations of the situation, rather than specifically feeling their emotions (Chory-Assad & Cicchirillo, 2005). The results suggest that presence explains why players identify with and can relate to fictional characters and the situations they go through, even if they are not relatable in real life. Cohen operationalizes identification as consisting of four dimensions: sharing the feelings of a fictional character, sharing their perspective,
internalising their goals and being fully absorbed by the media content (2001). Especially the feeling of being absorbed in the game may explain why virtual reality had an effect on associative empathy because the medium is more immersive than traditional screens. By being in the world of Fallout, players could associate more with the characters and the tragic events they are going through.
23 No full mediation of presence between VR and the other subscales of state empathy, affective empathy and cognitive empathy, was found. This differs from some early studies on virtual reality and empathy, in which they found that presence mediates these forms of
empathy (Formosa, Morrison, Hill and Stone, 2017; Shutter & Stilinović, 2017). One explanation might be that video games are interactive in nature and therefore are more engaging in general than the VR-movies in those studies. As some studies point out, interactivity may cause emotions that are unique to video games by acting and making choices in the virtual world, such as guilt and pride (Hartmann, 2017; Sherry, Lucas, Greenberg & Lachlan, 2006). The content and interactivity in video games may still have a stronger effect on placing oneself in other’s shoes and feeling their emotions than VR. Future studies should compare interactivity to VR and their relation to emotions, specifically
empathy.
This study also found that those who played in virtual reality were significantly more aroused than those who played on a TV. However, only a direct effect of VR was found instead of a mediation of the effect on state empathy. This contradicts excitation transfer theory, that states that excitation strengthens the emotions that follows to arousal (Zillmann, 1991). It also contradicts some studies done on fear (Lemmens & Sumter, 2018, Peperkorn et al., 2014) which might suggest that presence may be exclusive to that particular emotion. Although the events in Fallout 4 are arousing, they do not serve the purpose of scaring the player. This study suggests suggest that future research further investigates the links between different emotions, VR and arousal.
This study also investigated under what circumstances participants enjoyed playing the game more. Both arousal and the medium had no effect on enjoyment, but state empathy did as predicted. These results are in line with affective disposition theory, which states that people choose a side in the story based on their judgement of the characters (Zillmann, 1991;
24 Raney, 2008). This confirms that feelings of empathy while playing a video game also leads to more enjoyment, just like other studies found in the context of watching movies (Hoffner and Levine, 2005; Schramm & Wirth, 2008).
When interpreting the results it is important to keep in mind that there were several limitations to this study. First, due to the nature of the Empatica E4 wristband no heart rate and heart rate variability could be analysed, which are other indicators of arousal
(Braithwaite, Watson, Jones & Rowe 2013). The wristband corrects for any movements made and deletes data where this is the case. Because of this algorithm, it was impossible to analyse heart rate variability at the exact emotional moments, making it impossible to compare it to a baseline. Together with electrodermal activity, heart rate variability would give a more accurate representation of physiological responses to playing an emotional video game. Especially because very little is known about physiological responses in the context of empathy and virtual reality, future studies on virtual reality should take this into account.
Also, the sample was not diverse enough to generalize to the population that plays videogames. Most of the sample did study at the University of Amsterdam and is therefore not fully representative to the wide video game market. For example, there are significant differences in state empathy between older and younger age groups that were not present in this study (Riva et al., 2018, Wieck & Kunzmann, 2015). Also, relatively many participants were infrequent gamers and were inexperienced with virtual reality headsets. Although we controlled for novelty with games and virtual reality, experience with similar games or virtual reality might have had an influence on their empathy for the characters during the play session because there was a lack of frequent gamers. Some scholars argue that desensitization even leads to lower empathy, meaning violent video games will have a bigger impact on infrequent gamers (Carnagey, Anderson & Bushman, 2006). However, longitudinal investigations did not find such an effect after letting non-gamers play video games for a longer time (Kühn et
25 al., 2018). Future studies should therefore compare differences in state empathy between frequent gamers and infrequent gamers.
Finally, this study only investigated the concept of state empathy (Shen, 2010), but not the actual effect on empathy as a trait. Moreover, due to time restrictions participants only played the opening of the game. Although the first twenty to thirty minutes contained two emotional moments, Fallout 4 contains more shocking and engaging events during the full story. Empathy is a construct that builds over time, for example in health care studies
(Cunico, Sartori, Marognolli, & Meneghini, 2012).Therefore might playing the game longer, and thus having more moments in which players feel empathy for characters, contribute to trait empathy in the long run. It is suggested that other studies on empathy not only investigate the empathy during virtual reality gaming, but also the potential effect on empathy as a
personality trait.
The main strength of this study is the novelty of the method and subject. This is the first study that compares a high quality video game in virtual reality to playing on a television to investigate the impact on empathy, which is less arousing in nature than current
investigated emotions (Lemmens & Sumter, 2018; Peperkorn et al., 2014). The fact that there is an effect of virtual reality gaming on empathy has significant consequences for the value of the medium in therapeutic and societal contexts. As explained, seeing the situations that we are not familiar with helps shaping mental representations, which contributes to trait empathy over time. The effect of VR could therefore be useful in therapy for risk groups, as those have trouble seeing the perspective of others and the medium is a safe environment to practice.
But as virtual reality becomes more widely available to consumers with headsets as PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, the larger effect on emotions compared to traditional gaming on a television might help society be more empathetic over time. By not
26 only seeing someone in a certain situation, but actually feeling present and looking virtual characters in the eyes, virtual reality could become more than just games.
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Appendix A English version survey
Participant number
36 Condition On what platform did you play the game??
o
PC with regular screen (1)37 Informed consent You have been invited to participate in a study about the impact of video games.
Please read and sign the following informed consent:
I hereby declare that I have been informed in a clear manner about the nature and method of the research, as described in the email invitation for this study.
I agree, fully and voluntarily, to participate in this research study. With this, I retain the right to withdraw my consent, without having to give a reason for doing so. I am aware that I may halt my participation in the experiment at any time, until seven days after.
If my research results are used in scientific publications or are made public in another way, this will be done such a way that my anonymity is completely safeguarded. My personal data will not be passed on to third parties without my express permission.
If I wish to receive more information about the research, either now or in future, I can contact Jacco Peek, via Jaccopeek@gmail.com.
Should I have any complaints about this research, I can contact the designated member of the Ethics Committee representing the ASCoR, at the following address: ASCoR secretariat, Ethics Committee, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15793, 1001 NG Amsterdam; 020‐ 525 3680; ascor‐secr‐
fmg@uva.nl.
o
I understand the text presented above, and I agree to participate in the research study (1)o
I do not agree to participate in the study (2)Instruction - The following questions will ask about your experience during the play session. Please read the questions and answer truthfully. There are no correct or wrong answers and do not hesitate to ask questions if you don't understand something.
Filling in the questionnaire will take around seven minutes. Click on the arrow to proceed.
Presence - Please read the following statements about your feelings during the play session carefully and indicate if how much you disagree or agree (1= Strongly disagree – 7= Strongly agree).
1: Strongly disagree (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4: Neutral (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7: Strongly agree (7) I had a sense of being in the virtual
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38 world of
Fallout. (1) Somehow I felt that the virtual world surrounded me. (2)
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I felt like I was just perceiving pictures. (3)o
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I did not feel present in the virtual world. (4)
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I had a sense of acting in the virtual space, rather than operating something from outside. (5)o
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I felt present in the virtual space. (6)o
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I was aware of the real world surrounding while navigating in the virtual world (i.e. sounds, room temperature, other people, etc.) (7)o
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I was not aware of my real environment. (8)o
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I still paid attention to the real environment. (9)o
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39 I was completely captivated by the virtual world. (10)
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The virtual world seemed real to me. (11)o
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My experience in the virtual environment seemed consistent with my real world experience. (12)o
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The virtual world seemed more realistic than the real world. (13)o
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Empathy - Please read the following statements about your feelings for all the characters in the
game during the play session carefully and indicate if how much you disagree or agree (1= Strongly
disagree – 7= Strongly agree). 1: Strongly disagree (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4: Neutral (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7: Strongly agree (7) The character’s emotions were genuine. (1)
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I experienced the same emotions as the character when playing the game. (2)o
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I was in a similar emotional state as the character when playing the game. (3)o
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40 I could feel the
character’s
emotions. (4)
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I can see the character’s point of view. (5)
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o
o
o
o
o
I recognized the character’s situation. (6)o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I could understand what the character was going through during the game. (7)o
o
o
o
o
o
o
The character’s reactions to the situation are understandable. (8)o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I can relate to what the character was going through in game. (9)o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I can identify with the situation described in the game. (10)o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I can identify with the characters in the game. (11)o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Trait EM - Please read the following statements carefully and indicate if how much you disagree or agree (1= Strongly disagree – 7= Strongly agree).
42 1: Strongly disagree (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4: Neutral (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7: Strongly agree (7) I daydream and fantasize, with some regularity, about things that might happen to me. (1)
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me. (2)o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I sometimes find it difficult to see things from the "other guy's" point of view. (3)o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Sometimes I don't feel very sorry forother people when they are having problems. (4)
