Usability Of Virtual Worlds
Lu Haind, Brockmann Tobias, Stieglitz Stefan
Abstract
Abstract. In recent years virtual worlds left their origins driven by new technologies. Following, 3D-based environments moved into business related domains and are used e.g. to support virtual meetings or product presentations. However, enterprises have to consider that large share of companies' employees still fit to the definition of so-called digital immigrants. While younger employees are familiar with the usage of 3D-based environments, navigating in virtual rooms might be challenging for digital immigrants. This could limit the usage of virtual worlds for business related contexts. Therefore, we conducted usability tests with digital immigrants in virtual worlds and investigated their experiences. Our results show that in fact digital immigrants face problems when using virtual worlds. Based upon our study we discuss how to improve usability of virtual worlds for this group of users.
Keywords
Virtual worlds; usability; digital immigrants