Erik Champion

Applying game design theory to virtual heritage environments

Much literature has argued that interactive engagement in a computer medium is best demonstrated by games. With this in mind, this paper suggests certain techniques that virtual environments (especially cultural heritage ones) can learn from game design.

Evaluating presence in cultural heritage projects

This paper surveys current notions of social and cultural presence as they may help the evaluation of cultural heritage projects. We argue that cultural heritage requires specialized evaluation, as key issues both connect and separate the aims of presence researchers and cultural heritage experts. To support this argument, three case studies of virtual heritage evaluations are summarized, and recommendations made as to how experimental design and evaluation may be improved for future projects.

Otherness of Place: Game‐based Interaction and Learning in Virtual Heritage Projects

When we design digital places that represent the past using media such as game engines, it is all too easy to be taken in by the lure of technology and forget to concentrate on enhancing the user experience. In the case of virtual heritage, there are several important issues in the creation, construction or revocation of places of cultural significance. In this paper I will argue that while computer games do appear to be more successful learning environments than their critics give them credit for, the learning gained from using them is particularly dangerous in terms of the objectives of virtual heritage. I further suggest that computer games offer particular advantages over traditional virtual environment technology but that their typical modes of interaction must be re‐examined, especially in relation to the notion of place.

The Palenque project: evaluating interaction in an online virtual archaeology site

This case study evaluated the effect on cultural understanding of three different interaction modes, each teamed with a specific slice of the digitally reconstructed environment. The three interaction modes were derived from an initial descriptive theory of cultural learning as instruction, observation and action. A major aim was to ascertain whether task performance was similar to the development of understanding of the cultural context reached by participation in the virtual environment. A hypothesis was that if task performance is equivalent to understanding and engagement, we might be able to evaluate the success of virtual heritage environments (through engagement and education), without having to annoy the user with post-experience questionnaires. However, results suggest interaction in virtual heritage environments is so contextually embedded; subjective post-test questionnaires can still be more reliable than evaluating task performance.

A Surround Display Warp-Mesh Utility to Enhance Player Engagement

Surround displays are used in simulation, training, and other applications based on virtual worlds. A wide-view display engages the viewers peripheral vision, providing a more accurate view of the virtual world and therefore a heightened sense of immersion. However, most commercially available surround displays are expensive and complex. We developed a low-cost alternative, which uses a standard digital projector, a hemispherical mirror, and any roughly spherical or cylindrical screen. The software can handle irregular surfaces and will be open-sourced in the next release of the CaveUT/VRGL freeware. We also conducted a pilot study comparing game play in our prototype and game play with a standard desktop monitor. Players using the surround display reported significantly shorter (P = 0.0051) perceived duration of time during play. Reduced awareness of the passage of time during game play was positively correlated with greater engagement and enjoyment.

Entertaining the similarities and distinctions between serious games and virtual heritage projects

Abstract This article summarizes past definitions of entertainment, serious games and virtual heritage in order to discuss whether virtual heritage has particular problems not directly addressed by conventional serious games. For virtual heritage, typical game-style entertainment poses particular ethical problems, especially around the simulation of historic violence and the possible trivialization of culturally sensitive and significant material. While virtual heritage can be considered to share some features of serious games, there are significantly different emphases on objectives. Despite these distinctions, virtual heritage projects could still meet serious games-style objectives while entertaining participants.

Defining cultural agents for virtual heritage environments

This article describes the primary ways in which intelligent agents have been employed in virtual heritage projects and explains how the special requirements of virtual heritage environments necessitate the development of cultural agents. How do we distinguish between social agents and cultural agents? Can cultural agents meet these specific heritage objectives?

Evaluating cultural learning in an online virtual environment

How can we develop and evaluate contextual cultural learning through exploration and participation in a virtual heritage environment? This article discusses one way of evaluating cultural learning, through measuring the cultural understanding of participants who learn about the same environments but via different methods of interaction (observation, social instruction, and activity-based exploration). Task performance, understanding of local cultural practices, memory of what was written and memory of events and objects, were recorded. Issues arising from the chosen internet-based technology, and how these issues could have been avoided, will also be discussed.

Linked Open Data Driven Game Generation

Linked Open Data provides a means of unified access to large and complex interconnected data sets that concern themselves with a surprising breath and depth of topics. This unified access in turn allows for the consumption of this data for modelling cultural heritage sites, historical events or creating serious games. In the following paper we present our work on simulating the terrain of a Great War battle using data from multiple Linked Open Data projects.

Augmenting the Present With the Past

The spectrum of virtual reality was explained in conference papers by Paul Milgram and others (Drascic and Milgram 1996; Milgram and Kishino 1994). In the later paper they defined augmented reality as “augmenting natural feedback to the operator with simulated cues” but they also noted that it has been defined as “a form of virtual reality where the participant’s head-mounted display is transparent, allowing a clear view of the real world.”