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International Conference on Facets of Virtual Environments

FaVE 2009: Facets of Virtual Environments pp 68–78Cite as

The Effects of Virtual Weather on Presence

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Abstract

In modern societies people tend to spend more time in front of computer screens than outdoors. Along with an increasing degree of realism displayed in digital environments, simulated weather appears more and more realistic and more often implemented in digital environments. Research has found that the actual weather influences behavior and mood. In this paper we experimentally examine the effects of virtual weather on the sense of presence. Thereby we found individuals (N=30) to immerse deeper in digital environments displaying fair weather conditions than in environments displaying bad weather. We also investigate whether virtual weather can influence behavior. The possible implications of theses findings for presence theory as well as digital environment designers will be discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Berne, Muesmattstrasse 45, 3000, Bern 9, Switzerland

    Bartholomäus Wissmath, David Weibel & Fred W. Mast

  2. Institute of Distance Education, Swiss Universitary, Ueberlandstrasse 12, 3900, Brig, Switzerland

    Bartholomäus Wissmath & David Weibel

Authors
  1. Bartholomäus Wissmath
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  2. David Weibel
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  3. Fred W. Mast
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Multimedia in Education and Research (MuLF), Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 136, 10623, Berlin, Germany

    Fritz Lehmann-Grube

  2. Institute of Mathematics, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 136, 10623, Berlin, Germany

    Jan Sablatnig

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© 2010 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Wissmath, B., Weibel, D., Mast, F.W. (2010). The Effects of Virtual Weather on Presence. In: Lehmann-Grube, F., Sablatnig, J. (eds) Facets of Virtual Environments. FaVE 2009. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 33. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11743-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11743-5_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11742-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11743-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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