The body is the message: conceptual and experimental examination of the virtually realized experience

Abstract

The aim of the present thesis is the conceptualization and methodological reconfiguration of the VR experience and its design, development, and evaluation, in a manner that may equally inform application design and experimental VR research. The main question addressed is whether there are enough indications and proof that the VR experience is objective and distinctive to the affective experiences triggered by VR application-specific design. VR’s historical manifestations and cultural significance, its technological development from the 18th century up until its contemporary industrialization, along with its theoretical and conceptual basis are interconnected. Any which one cannot be discussed without the other and paying equal attention to all of VR facets is critical for a field intro/retrospection that may illuminate and solve methodological shortcomings. This work proposes a novel conceptual framework, labelled as the Virtually Realized Experience (VRdE), that can address current challenges within the field of VR. The conceptualization distinguishes between application-specific experiences facilitated in VR settings by use of immersive technologies, from virtual reality in itself, and slowly brings forth matters of agency and implications of the design process as the true culprits behind ongoing convolution. The approach taken moves away from deductive analyses and, instead, employs inductive reasoning to detect the parameters that condition the VRdE. The inductive inference results in an outline of the structurally fundamental core functions that comprise a VR system, and the subsequent formation of a diagram, which further organizes function components and development parameters. Direct causation between those and the VRdE is detected and consistently points to spatial cognitive processes. This conclusion contradicts several presence models by deeming that ‘sense of being there’ falls under spatial cognition and is limited to the VRdE, which takes precedence over any subsequent, subjectively experienced content that falls under Experience Design. The culmination of this thesis is a VRdE Design Model accompanied by appropriate design and development guidelines as a step-by-step guide that is curated in accordance with VRdE conditioning. The design methodization proposed doubles as a process of self/technological regulation that pushes toward advisable technological setups, and as a set of standards for rigorous justification of design choices.