Examination of Within-Headset Sports Media Experiences

Abstract

With the many varied options for media presentation available within virtual reality devices today, it is important to start comparing these different formats to determine how different they are from each other. This project examined the differences between 180-Degree and 2D presentations of sports media within virtual reality headsets (HMD). Additionally, it also examined how much including individual differences helped explain participant experiences of presence, suspense, and enjoyment. Participants were asked to watch a piece of sports media footage presented either in 180-Degree or 2D formats within their own headset and then complete surveys on presence, suspense, enjoyment, team disposition, and fanship post-watching the video clip. This data was analyzed using a MANOVA and hierarchical linear regression. Results showed that there were no differences between the two types of media presentation, but fanship did help to understand more of the variance within participants’ enjoyment.