Emotion and sense of telepresence: The effects of screen viewpoint, self-transcendence style, and NPC in a 3D game environment

Abstract

Telepresence, or the sense of "being there", has been discussed in the literature as an essential, defining aspect of a virtual environment, including definitions rooted in behavioral response, signal detection theory, and philosophy, but has generally ignored the emotional aspects of the virtual experience. The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of presence in terms of people's emotional engagement within an immersive mediate environment. Three main theoretical statements are discussed: a). Objective telepresence: display viewpoint; b). Subjective telepresence: emotional factors and individual self-transcendence styles; c). Social telepresence: program-controlled entities in an on-line game environment. This study has implications for how research could be conducted to further our understanding of telepresence. Validated psychological subjective techniques for assessing emotions and a sense of telepresence will be applied. The study results could improve our knowledge of the construct of telepresence, as well as better inform us about how a virtual environment, such as an online game, can be managed in creating and designing emotional effects.