Where do you exercise? The Impact of Different Virtual Environments on Exergame Performance and User Experience: A Preliminary study

Environments can affect mood, motivation, and productivity. Green spaces, for example, are known to have calming effects on people's moods. In virtual reality (VR), we could take advantage of these effects, as we have full visual control over the environment. In this paper, we explore how such potential effects caused by the environment impact performance and user experience (UX) when playing an exergame. We created four environments differing in their level of detail and visual realism.: (1) a white room, (2) outer space, (3) an abstract space, and (4) a forest environment. In a user study (N=26) in which participants played an exergame in all four environments, we found evidence that VEs influence enjoyment and performance. The simulation of green spaces or abstract VEs with enjoyable background sounds has a particularly positive impact. We discuss how environmental features impact performance and UX and present promising avenues for future work investigating specific parts of environmental features.