Track 14 – Play, Learn, Explore (Serious Games Society – GALA SESSION)

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https://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/3607229

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Browsing Track 14 – Play, Learn, Explore (Serious Games Society – GALA SESSION) by Subject "Applied computing → Interactive learning environments"

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    Digging through the Virtual Sand of Time: Development and Evaluation of Hetepheres Tomb VR
    (The Eurographics Association, 2025) Körner, Kevin; Dreiling, Luca; Manuelian, Peter Der; Campana, Stefano; Ferdani, Daniele; Graf, Holger; Guidi, Gabriele; Hegarty, Zackary; Pescarin, Sofia; Remondino, Fabio
    Less than 100 meters from the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza lies the tomb of Queen Hetepheres I. 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of its discovery, a milestone that is likely to draw renewed attention to this relatively unknown archaeological site. To share the story of the tomb's excavation and the mysteries surrounding it with a broader audience, we developed the virtual reality experience Hetepheres Tomb VR. In this paper, we present the didactic concept behind the experience, along with practical implementation strategies designed to ensure maximum user-friendliness and minimize motion sickness. To evaluate the effectiveness of these design choices, we conducted a user study, the results of which are discussed in detail. These findings also informed subsequent optimizations of the application. With this work, we aim to provide museum-related VR projects - particularly those in the conceptual phase - with insights into our development process. We hope to offer both guidance and inspiration for creating engaging, accessible virtual experiences. Hetepheres Tomb VR is currently available for free on Steam and the Meta Quest app store, making it suitable for use in educational settings and museum exhibitions.
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    Promoting Positive Attitudes Through Narrative-Driven Digital Heritage Games
    (The Eurographics Association, 2025) Kolek, Lukáš; Šosvald, David; Flores, Fernanda; Halilovic, Jasminko; Campana, Stefano; Ferdani, Daniele; Graf, Holger; Guidi, Gabriele; Hegarty, Zackary; Pescarin, Sofia; Remondino, Fabio
    Video games offer new ways to engage audiences with cultural heritage beyond traditional museum settings. However, can video games authentically replicate the narrative depth of museum experiences while promoting the positive attitudinal impacts museums seek to achieve? This study investigates whether a narrative-driven video game, We Grew Up in War, inspired by historical research and curatorial practice can positively influence players' attitudes towards the depicted topics. The game employs complementary multiperspectivity, a storytelling strategy that presents different but thematically aligned perspectives focused on the topics of refugees and migration. Using a pretest-posttest design with experimental and control groups (n = 116), we measured both explicit and implicit attitude changes. Results show that players who played the game exhibited significantly more positive explicit attitudes than those in the control group (d = 0.33, p = .037). Implicit attitudes did not significantly differ between groups. A more detailed analysis showed that there was a statistically significant change in players' affective responses between the pretest and posttest, whereas no such significant change was observed in the cognitive or behavioral components of explicit attitudes. Despite using a short prototype of the game (approx. 23 minutes), these findings suggest that video games can be effectively employed in promoting cultural heritage and attitude change to wide audiences across geographical boundaries.