Virtual Reality Experiment Framework

PLEASE NOTE: The application is currently under maintenance and will resume shortly. Thank you for your patience.

This application aims to assess the technical viability of fire training in rural areas and deployment in VR users’ homes. All information provided is game-ified and should NOT be taken for actual safety advice and has not been verified by fire services.

In this application you will learn how and when to use four types of fire extinguishers (Dry Powder, Foam, Water and Carbon Dioxide). After learning the correct procedure for safely handling a fire extinguisher, you will be tasked to extinguish a fire hazard that is effective for that extinguisher (Paper, Gas, Electrical and Fuel hazards). Once all four types of extinguishers and hazards have been completed, a fire training simulation will be begin. This simulation will put your skills to the test in a search and rescue operation.

During the fire training simulation, you will be tasked with exploring a house during the aftermath of an earthquake. Using the knowledge learned from the training stage, you will be assessed on how effectively you tackle any hazards or dangers discovered during your exploration. Failure to correctly tackle hazards will result in a failed simulation. Once you are satisfied that the search and rescue operation is completed, you can return to the hub area and generate your score.

If you have any questions, complaints, or experience issues with this application, please contact Scott Howie (Contact email available in the help-section) for assistance. While playing the game, in-game analytics will be gathered to assess the technical feasibility of the simulation. This data may be used for academic publication. By downloading and agreeing to the in-game consent forms, you will be giving your consent for this data to be anonymously used. If you wish to opt-out of data being submitted, please email Scott Howie prior to 1st of January 2019, after this date, data will be submitted for publication and it will not be possible to remove.

Thank you for your time and assistance with this research! Any feedback you have is greatly appreciated.

ACHIVAL GAMES:
City Exploration
Challenge other Virtual Reality users to discover the ultimate movement method for virtual reality games and applications. Collect as many star objects as possible to help your team compete and score points!

Within this application you will be set a number of assigned tasks to complete within a limited time period. Using novel virtual reality interaction and movement techniques, you will attempt to find and collect all star objects located within a modern city environment. Your method of movement will be predetermined by the application, this will put you into one of three teams. Team A, uses trackpad/analouge stick movement to explore the world. Team B, uses quick teleportation. And Team C, uses a new novel reference teleportation technique, that allows you to be in two locations at once.

You will be representing your team in this competition to discover which method of movement is superior for collecting the most stars in the least time. The team with the most stars wins! The results of the competition may be used in academic research to analyse how each team handled the situation and assess pros and cons of each method. You can re-play the experiment as much as you like, however, your contribution will only be considered for the original team you were allocated. The winning team of the competition will be revealed after the minimum number of team-members have contributed and teams are of equal distribution. You will be able to check the winning team by visting this store page, or through a Steam community forum announcement for this application.

This product is a framework for academic experiments using virtual reality. In-game data information will be used to analyse games featured in the experiment. By downloading and confirming your consent during initial setup of the application, you are consenting to the use of your anonymous data for academic research. You can opt-out of this research by declining consent or by emailing Scott Howie (Contact email available in the help-section) within a month of completing an individual experiment included within the application. All data gathered will remain anonymous and not be associated with your Steam account, Steam ID or other personnel information. This data will only be accessed by authorized academic investigators and collaborators and strictly limited to usage in academic research, and will not be sold, transferred, or traded to any third-party commercial company or entity.

Additional Information

This framework includes various games that feature as experiments. Each of these games will include three distinct stages: "Information and Consent", "Task" and "Debrief". These are described in detail below:

Information and Consent

Upon starting the game you will be able to select which experiments you wish to participate in, by doing so you will be met with a consent screen. This screen will inform you of the task you are about to conduct and requires you to confirm your consent for the application to gather anonymous information of in-game data for the purposes of academic research.

Task

The task section of the experiment will involve the completion of a set of tasks with a goal of completing an objective. These tasks will be described to you during the experiment and will have been summarized during the Information and Consent stage. Each task will be unique to the experiment you will be participating in. These tasks may be similar but may not be alike. In some experiments, there will be multiple variations of a single experiment conducted, each completed differently. You are free to try all these included methods; however, we will only use data gathered from your initial running of the experiment for our research.

Debrief

After you have completed the experiment, you will be informed about the purpose of the research we are conducting. We will request that you keep the goal of the research confidential as to not include bias for future participants.

The games featured in this application will continue to be updated overtime, with more added through-out the year. The current released games within the application are:

• City Exploration

If you have any questions, complaints, or experience issues with this application, please contact Scott Howie (Contact email available in the help-section) for assistance.