Embodied Gesture Interactions for a VR- based Commemorative History Game

Abstract

This paper presents a system that implements embodied virtual gestures for a persuasive commemorative history escape room game in VR. The high fidelity of the virtual gestures to real-world gestures are guided in principle by the assertion that high action embodiment may elicit a higher emotional response to the intended learning objectives. The technical design of the system is discussed vis-à-vis the relevant embodied cognition principles. A preliminary user test was held where observational results and freeform user commentary were collected, to help finetune the system and to assess the potential effectiveness of the system as a learning tool for commemorative history with controversial topics.