The Effects of Co-Location and Task Dependency in a Collaborative Multiplayer Virtual Reality Environment: A Study of Social Presence and Collision Behaviour

The Effects of Co-Location and Task Dependency in a Collaborative Multiplayer Virtual Reality Environment

Krarup, Mikkel Lynggaard ; Winther, Bjørn Christian

4. term

Medialogy, Master

2023

2023-06-09

62

This thesis examines whether co-location (working in the same place) and task dependency (shared vs. distributed tasks) influence collaboration, assessed as co-presence (social presence), how people allocate attention, perceived behavioral interdependence, and collision avoidance. A mixed factorial design with both within- and between-subject comparisons was used with 32 participants across four conditions combining co-location (co-located vs. not co-located) and task setup (shared vs. distributed). According to the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, there were no significant differences in collision avoidance and in most aspects of social presence. However, a few significant differences emerged: attentional allocation differed between the ‘co-located, distributed’ and ‘not co-located, distributed’ conditions; and perceived behavioral interdependence differed between ‘co-located, shared’ and ‘co-located, distributed’, as well as between ‘co-located, shared’ and ‘not co-located, shared’. Overall, co-location and task dependency did not show a consistent, significant effect when comparing the four conditions.

Denne afhandling undersøger, om samlokation (at arbejde det samme sted) og opgaveafhængighed (fælles vs. fordelte opgaver) påvirker samarbejde målt som social tilstedeværelse (co-presence), opmærksomhedsfordeling, oplevet adfærdsmæssig indbyrdes afhængighed og undvigelse af sammenstød. Et blandet faktordesign med både within-subjects- og between-subjects-sammenligninger blev anvendt med 32 deltagere i fire betingelser, der kombinerede samlokation (samlokeret vs. ikke samlokeret) og opgavetype (shared vs. distributed). Ifølge Wilcoxon Signed Rank-testen var der ingen signifikante forskelle i kollisionsundvigelse og i de fleste aspekter af social tilstedeværelse. Der optrådte dog enkelte signifikante forskelle: i opmærksomhedsfordeling mellem ‘samlokeret, fordelte opgaver’ og ‘ikke samlokeret, fordelte opgaver’; samt i oplevet adfærdsmæssig indbyrdes afhængighed mellem ‘samlokeret, fælles opgaver’ og ‘samlokeret, fordelte opgaver’, og mellem ‘samlokeret, fælles opgaver’ og ‘ikke samlokeret, fælles opgaver’. Samlet set viste samlokation og opgaveafhængighed ikke en gennemgående, signifikant effekt, når de fire betingelser blev sammenlignet.

[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]

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