METAGREENVERSE: Exploring the User Experience in a Biophilic Metaverse Workspace
摘要
The rise of the Metaverse is anticipated to extend the duration of time individuals spend within virtual indoor environments, potentially affecting human well-being. The hype generated by the launch of Apple Vision Pro has increasingly spread the idea of using virtual platforms as a workspace. Our research explores the idea of applying biophilic environmental design within the Metaverse, hence our definition: Metagreenverse. The biophilia hypothesis suggests that humans have an innate tendency to seek connections with the natural world and there is increasing evidence that biophilia can yield health benefits. In this preliminary study, we designed a metaverse office enriched with biophilic elements and investigated how the plants can affect the user experience of 24 participants compared to the same office without biophilic elements. We evaluated the user experience by submitting the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), the user emotional response with State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire, the realism of the virtual office with Slater-Usoh-Steed (SUS) test, and the perception time. We found that the integration of biophilic elements into a metaverse workspace influences positively the users’ experience. Biophilic elements bring added value to users’ well-being by increasing the attractiveness of the workspace and decreasing feelings of tension and stress.