TY - GEN
T1 - Psychedelic VR Experience
T2 - International Academic Mindtrek conference
AU - Jung, Sangwon
AU - Buruk, Oguz'Oz'
AU - Hamari, Juho
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Owner/Author.
PY - 2022/11/16
Y1 - 2022/11/16
N2 - Virtual environments are emerging as a tool for providing psychede-lic experiences due to the increasing interest in altered states of consciousness (ASCs) and the spread of VR headsets. However, the user experience of commercial psychedelic VR applications has not yet been adequately explored in HCI. To fill this gap, we conducted a user experience study of Cosmic Flow, one of the psychedelic VR available on Steam. In this exploratory study, six participants experienced Cosmic Flow and got interviewed. Analysis of user interviews revealed three main themes that articulate different aspects of the experience: moderate interaction, reflections on personal experience, and VR ergonomics. In the discussion, we derive seven design considerations to guide the development of psychedelic VR: non-active engagement, positive indolence and idleness, non-invasive multi-sensory modalities, creative and introspective activities, effects of priming, virtual nature, and comfortableness. The study contributes to design researchers and practitioners working on related experiences.
AB - Virtual environments are emerging as a tool for providing psychede-lic experiences due to the increasing interest in altered states of consciousness (ASCs) and the spread of VR headsets. However, the user experience of commercial psychedelic VR applications has not yet been adequately explored in HCI. To fill this gap, we conducted a user experience study of Cosmic Flow, one of the psychedelic VR available on Steam. In this exploratory study, six participants experienced Cosmic Flow and got interviewed. Analysis of user interviews revealed three main themes that articulate different aspects of the experience: moderate interaction, reflections on personal experience, and VR ergonomics. In the discussion, we derive seven design considerations to guide the development of psychedelic VR: non-active engagement, positive indolence and idleness, non-invasive multi-sensory modalities, creative and introspective activities, effects of priming, virtual nature, and comfortableness. The study contributes to design researchers and practitioners working on related experiences.
KW - Altered States of Consciousness
KW - Cosmic Flow
KW - Psychedelic
KW - User Experience
KW - Virtual Reality
U2 - 10.1145/3569219.3569391
DO - 10.1145/3569219.3569391
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85142616774
T3 - ACM International Conference Proceeding Series
SP - 23
EP - 30
BT - Proceedings of the 25th International Academic Mindtrek Conference
Y2 - 16 November 2022 through 18 November 2022
ER -