Evaluating Freeform Creativity versus Goal-Directed Exercises in VR: An Examination of Immersion Levels and Effectiveness

As virtual reality (VR) continues to evolve, the study on user interaction within the VR environment becomes increasingly important. Thus, we investigated two interactions "Exploration and Browsing" and "Purpose and Guidance," using VR platforms to compare immersion levels and exercise effectiveness. We analyzed the results from 33 participants using Gravity Sketch 3D for freeform creativity, and Unity3D generated program for goal-directed exercises. We assessed four factors of 'concentration,' 'enjoyment,' 'sense of time distortion,' and 'control' for immersion levels and self-recognized exercise intensity, and participants' preference between the two VR formats. Preliminary results indicated that Freeform Creativity scored high overall in Immersion Levels and Exercise Effectiveness compared to Goal-Directed Exercises. The data also suggested that when participants used creative VR tools for exploration and browsing, stronger Immersion Levels were triggered, which in turn, led to more exercise. However, providing participants with exercise goals did not guarantee a higher level of exercise.