Games that Move You: A Cinematic User Experience Evaluation of VR Games

As the entertainment landscape continues to evolve, researchers have concentrated their efforts on the potentiality of digital technologies to promote more immersive experiences, especially the relevance of virtual reality and gaming technologies for their unique approaches to maintaining the attention of viewers while also eliciting both meaningful and immersive experiences. The objective of this paper is to examine the immersion and continuity of cinematic virtual reality (CVR) through interactive media such as gaming. We developed a heuristic checklist to evaluate core aspects of the gameplay and cinematic experience of an adventure VR game. It features four aspects: general usability, mobility, playability, and cinematic engagement. For playability, this research focuses on heuristic elements of gameplay, game mechanics, game story, and onboarding. For cinematic engagement, we highlighted four factors that are influential to the continuity of cinematic experiences: captivation, real-world dissociation, comprehension, and transformation. Our results revealed the usability problems in three areas: (1) General Usability, (2) Gameplay Heuristics, and (3) Dynamic Gameplay in Cinematic Context (DGCC). Captivation was found to be the least affected by gameplay experience, as graphical fidelity maintained its consistency throughout play sessions, while real-world dissociation was limited by a lack of continuity with the game controls. In summary, our results suggested that even when players’ cinematic and graphical impressions of Red Matter 2 were primarily positive, the lack of diegetic referencing such as text-based instruction and help with in-game activities, led to a negative experience with the game and considerable frustration.