Exploring the Influence of Avatar Skin Tone in VR Educational Games
Olaoluwa Joel Oyedokun, Syed Tanzim Mubarrat, Amogh Joshi, Christos Mousas, Dominic Kao · 2024
The relevance and influence of self-avatars in virtual environments have become increasingly evident and widely acknowledged in the research literature. Studies explore how these avatars influence user experiences, engagement, and embodiment across psychological, social, cognitive, and behavioral domains. As virtual reality (VR) technologies continue to evolve and become more integrated into various domains, understanding the role of self-avatars becomes crucial for designing immersive and effective virtual environments that cater to the needs and preferences of users. To address this issue, this study describes a work-in-progress VR educational game. A fundamental aim of this VR educational game is to understand underrepresented minorities’ players’ learning outcomes when subject to different skin tone avatars in an immersive virtual environment. This project aims to develop a VR game that allows players to choose an avatar character from a validated list of characters or to customize a character with their preferred skin tone that will self-represent them in a virtual environment. This VR educational game will serve as an informal learning platform accessible through VR headsets.