In contemporary society, media technology is constantly changing and improving at a rapid pace. Traditional media has been significantly impacted by several technologies. Some of the most notable inventions include the introduction to the Printing Press in 1440, the camera in 1894, the radio in 1896, television in 1925, and the internet in 1961 (Turow 2015). Each new technology seems to be more engaging, or attention-sustaining, than the next. One of the most recent and emerging entertainment technological advancements has been Virtual Reality (VR). Unlike other media technologies which afford 2-dimensional views, VR is an immersive medium which affords viewers 360º viewing inside of a headset. In this paper, I will argue how (tele)presence can explain high levels of engagement in a virtual reality live sporting event experience.
Typically, many sports fans turn to other sources of media when they are not able to attend the game in person. They stay involved by looking up scores, listening to commentators on the radio, and tuning in to the live broadcasted game on television and online. While these sources all help better inform the fans, there are still everyday life distractions that can interrupt from the spectating experience. However, modern-age technologies like VR mitigate the drawbacks of more traditional media.
SportsCentVR is my proposed hypothetical collaboration with ESPN’s SportsCenter sports network. Viewers wear a VR headset and haptic gloves to watch their favorite live sporting events in a more immersive setting. This blending of reality and entertainment media enhances traditional entertainment media covering sports. Within the experience, users create an avatar to represent themselves as spectators. Essentially, these avatars are comparable to that of The Sims. Spectators have options to select whatever game they desire and can choose where within the stadium or field they wish to view from. Similar to television and radio media, SportsCentVR also projects the sounds of the games like the voices of the announcers, chatting with other spectators, music, and the cheering or booing crowd. Besides sight and sound, this technology also caters to user’s sense of smell. The smells of the game (i.e., popcorn, beer, and sweat in some cases) will be replicated and sprayed with an attached scent-emitter extension. SportsCentVR affords the closest feeling to being at the real game, and the sensory and communication aspects make for an even more engaging experience.
(Tele)presence is a multifaceted concept which aims to encapsulate the extent to which a mediated environment gives individual’s the sense that they are actually part of that environment, is prominent in VR technologies (Shapiro 2017). Especially because of the nature of 360º views and mobility VR, there is a relationship fostering the diminishing perception of where one is in time and space and an increasing degree to which one feels immersed in the virtual environment. In VR, users often feel more connected to their mediated environment and may begin to forget that they are sitting in a chair wearing a headset in a room with completely different surroundings. The three multidimensional and overlapping types of presence—Spatial Presence, Self-Presence, and Social Presence—are engaging elements which have applications in SportsCentVR.
Spatial Presence refers to the vivid and interactive experiences in virtual environments (Shapiro 2017). In SportsCentVR’s virtual environment, there is a sensory realism through a multitude of features. SportsCentVR satisfies the interactive element of Spatial Presence through impeccable feedback in regards to speed, mapping, and range. These spatial features all feel very natural to the user. The speed of interaction responses in SportCentVR does not lag, and is rather comparable to that of the real world. When speaking to other avatars in neighboring seats, for instance, the auditory speed of communication happens as if you were interacting face-to-face. In terms of mapping, the mediated response to physical actions is the same as it would be in the real world. Because users wear haptic gloves in SportsCentVR, raising one’s arms when participating in the crowd’s ‘Wave,’ for example, would naturally be shown on the screen once the user physically lifts their arms in the air. However, an expected mapping challenge would be the teleporting ability users have to jump around from place to place because this is not physically possible in the real world. Compared with the other Spatially Present dimensions within SportsCentVR, the range, or the number of objects that a user can interact with and manipulate, is the most subtle in this particular VR experience. Because users are seated as avatars in the stadium, there are not many objects besides their bleacher seats that they can manipulate in this experience. Overall, these Spatially Present features are as fluid as they would be in the natural world. Although users can experience varying degrees of (tele)presence, these features increase the possibility for this to occur.
Villani and colleagues’ 2012 study suggested similar ideas about Spatial Presence. Their research explored whether technology acts as a barrier of spatial presence. In their experiment, they measured the anxiety levels among participants in a job interview in person and in a mediated VR environment. They found that those who interviewed virtually in a headset felt anxiety during and after the interview, whereas participants who interviewed in the in-person condition only felt anxiety after the interview had been completed. The results indicate that spatial presence is heightened in VR (Villani et. al 2012). Therefore, in SportsCentVR, users may feel a stronger emotional connection to the game than when watching in person.
Self Presence is an individual’s perception and awareness of the surrounding physical environment. To maximize Self Presence, they must be convinced that the representations and responses in the environment mimic reality (Shapiro 2017). Witmer & Singer surveyed university students to learn more about Self Presence in virtual environments. They found that the more the mediated experiences matched their familiar perceptions of reality, the more they felt immersed and engaged (Witmer & Singer 1998). In SportsCentVR, the landscape within the experience must replicate real stadiums. For example, if an upcoming Boston Red Sox game was scheduled to be played in Boston’s Fenway Park, the stadium within SportCentVR would look the same.
Social Presence fulfils the human fundamental need for socialization within a mediated experience. Since sports culture is inherently social, it is essential for SportCentVR to ensure Social Presence. This form of presence is satisfied through the aspects of copresence, psychological involvement, and behavioral engagement. Copresence is defined as the extent one is aware of others in the environment. In SportCentVR, users are likely to experience copresence because they are seated next to other avatars that represent other spectators. Psychological involvement is the degree of one’s awareness for others being human ranging to artificial actors. It feels more ‘real’ when experiences are shared with other humans, so it is important that SportCentVR emphasizes the fact that avatars are backed by real people. Behavioral Engagement, or the ability that we have as humans to engage in realistic, normative, and typical social behaviors and discourse (Shapiro 2017). As humans, we monitor how people respond to social behaviors and adjust our body language and other aspects of conversation to be appropriate for the context. In SportCentVR, this element is less stressed when compared to copresence and psychological involvement because the avatars within the experience are all controlled by humans. Noticing others and socializing in terms of Social Presence affects our experiences and enhances engagement.
The characteristics of (tele)presence in the SportsCentVR experience make for an engaging entertainment medium because users will feel immersed in the virtual environment. VR is a modern-era technology with limitless immersive possibilities. Perhaps by the time you read this paper, new immersive innovations will have been discovered, pushing the media landscape to become even more engaging and further evolved.