Towards the Design of Transformation: a Review of Transformative VR Experiences

Abstract: Within the context applied to Virtual Reality research, the present work focuses on a literature review within the emerging field of Transformative Experience Design: a domain in interaction design that aims to create experiences fostering self-actualization and self-transcendence and which relates directly to the ideas of the sublime or awe. The methodological Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) Statement was used to conduct the current review. The scientific multidisciplinary databases used for the search were SCOPUS and Web of Science. The initial search resulted in the collection of a total of 448 articles from the two aforementioned databases, of which 408 were included after the English language criterion had been applied. After eliminating duplicate studies, 304 articles remained. Here, the initial screening phase was based on reading the respective abstracts and titles, and from this excluding noticeably irrelevant studies based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria, resulting in a total of 71 articles. Of these, and after the full-text reading, 49 papers were considered eligible for inclusion in this research context.The work focuses on studies that have adopted a strongly empirical, phenomenological and qualitative approach to the creation and evaluation of transformative experiences in VR, with the purpose of finding out not only how these are being created, but also which are the main factors that enable a transformative dimension in this type of experiences. Indeed, VR seems to be explored through it´s particular phenomenological affordances as a means to advance the two fundamental dimensions of Transformative Experience Design: perceptual vastness, on one hand, and need for accommodation, on the other.Concerning the first dimension of perceptual vastness in VR experiences, different properties stood out. Firstly, the typology of the perceptual stimuli used was found to be mainly concealed between the representation of natural scenarios, and, most importantly, Earth´s view from outer space. It was also noted that environments that present an almost exaggeratedly extensive structure and where greater horizontality prevails are those that, according to this data, appear to have the best chance of fostering awe. Rather more interestingly, it has been revealed that the design of spaces and paths that present a dynamic and dramatic structure is where the sensations of awe are most prevalent, based, above all, on a feeling of surprise.On the other hand, the more epistemic dimension of need for accommodation appears to be based upon the exploration of paradoxical, supernatural, uncanny elements, mainly founded on the violation of the laws of reality and that beg for the accommodation within our current mental schemata. Truly, VR design allows for a complete inversion of these laws, and the use of fantastic and unreal elements thus finds fertile soil to then develop an experience that is deeply transformative.These results are then systematized and discussed, and further possibilities are then suggested within this context.

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Transformative Experience Design, Sublime, Awe, Literature Review

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1006724

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