Inbuilt Evaluation Mechanisms To Gauge Engagement In a Virtua

This paper describes a virtual historically simulated environment with inbuilt evaluation mechanisms to test the effect of various levels of interactivity on user engagement and immersion in a foreign cultural environment. The proposed evaluation mechanisms are computer scripted agents, dynamic physical environments, culturally situated tasks and artifacts, and multi-layered ‘memento maps’. As the evaluation mechanisms are internal and do not require stopping the user to ask them questions, a further research aim will be to evaluate their effectiveness in measuring user engagement as opposed to traditional survey methods. Results will be obtained by comparing user engagement in an interactive versus non-interactive virtual environment using both traditional usability techniques and also the inbuilt evaluation mechanisms.