Running Head: COMMUNICATION, ENVIRONMENTAL RICHNESS, AND PRESENCE

Communication modality and environmental richness: Effects on social and overall presence Jessica Sand Minnesota State University Moorhead

Modality, richness, and presence Abstract When researching virtual worlds, it is important to consider the factors that make a person believe they are in that virtual environment. One factor in particular is presence and social presence. The Social Presence Theory is the foundation for communication in virtual environments and elaborated on with the Embodied Theory of Social Presence. The purpose of

this study is to determine if social presence varies according to communication modality (text vs. audio) and environmental richness (low and high). The trends in the literature suggest that social presence mediates effects of communication modality (Jin, 2009). A second trend to emerge regarding overall presence is the importance of the virtual environment to engage users senses through environmental richness (Witmer & Singer, 1998; Slater, 2009). A two factor ANOVA is proposed with two levels of each factor. Group one is low richness and text modality. Group two is low richness and audio modality. Group three is high richness and text modality. Finally, group four is high richness and audio modality. It is predicted that the high environment richness location and audio information session will have the greatest effect on presence.

Modality, richness, and presence Communication modality and environmental richness: Effects on social and overall presence Virtual worlds have been growing in popularity for the past few years and in a variety of

ways. Researchers have used virtual reality as a basis for studying types of therapy, its impact on children, its use in training, its impact of cyberbullying and cyberstalking, and even economy. Virtual worlds can be described in many ways as they can be used to study social and economic experiences. They have been defined as a customized setting that is similar to the real world; a virtual reality that users can move around in and interact with 3D spaces; and also an environment in which a person is a driver of an avatar through which they interact with other avatars (Bulu, 2012). When researching virtual worlds, it is important to consider the factors that make a person believe they are in that virtual environment. One factor in particular is presence. Presence is important to study because it has been shown to impact emotional responses (Banos, Botella, Rubio, Quero, Garcia-Palacios, & Alcaniz, 2008), efficacy of virtual psychotherapy (Gaggioli, Mantovani, Castelnuovo, Wiederhold, & Riva, 2003), and is a key component in realistic reactions in virtual worlds (Slater, 2009). In this paper, a research design for how to study presence in Second Life is proposed. It covers an overview of Second Life, types of presence, factors that influence presence, as well as the effect of communication mode on presence. The purpose of this study is to determine if social presence varies according to communication modality and environmental richness. Virtual worlds have over 300 million users, worldwide (Dean, Cook, Murphy, and Keating, 2012). In particular, the virtual world Second Life has become a popular social virtual world. Second Life was created in 2003 by Linden Lab and is free to join. After creating an account, users, referred to as residents in Second Life, choose their name and a basic avatar which serves as an in-world graphical self-representation. As part of the learning curve of

Modality, richness, and presence Second Life, residents learn to customize their avatar which includes changing their features as well as learning how to obtain clothes and wear items. The basic avatars land in a place where they learn how to move and communicate with others in-world. Communication takes place either through text and typing or audio in which the resident uses their own voice to talk to others. After learning the basics, residents can teleport (transport in Second Life) to other worlds on the grid and begin exploring (Dean et al., 2012). Unlike other virtual worlds, Second Life is not goal directed. There is no objective, and no winning or losing. Essentially, users make their own reality through interactions with the environment and other avatars. They can build, buy and sell things, maintain businesses, join clubs, or even maintain virtual relationships with other avatars (Koles and Nagy, 2012). Buying and selling is possible through the use of virtual currency known as Linden after the creators of Second Life. Lindens can be purchased with real money by residents as well as earned in-world through virtual jobs or compensation. Approximately one United States dollar is equivalent to 250 Linden dollars (L$) (Koles and Nagy, 2012).

It is important to study virtual worlds to see how closely in-world behavior relates to real life behavior, the possibility of experiences not feasible in real world, and to determine the factors that increase awareness of a residents surroundings (Bystrom, Barfield, and Hendrix, 1999; Koles and Nagy, 2012; and McCreery, Schrader, Crach, and Boone, 2013). One factor that affects experiences within a virtual world is presence. Presence has also been referred to as telepresence, virtual presence, and media presence among others depending on the field from which they originated from (Lee, 2004). Presence has previously been defined as a subjective feeling of being in a given environment; the degree to which people feel they are in a different place than where they are physically located; and a

Modality, richness, and presence sense of social awareness, physical transportation, and immersion (Zahorik and Jenison, 1998; Bystrom, Barfield and Hendrix, 1999; and McCreery, Schrader, Krach, and Boone, 2013). For the purpose of this study, presence will be defined as an individuals sense of being in a particular virtual environment while being physically located in another (Bulu, 2012, pp. 155).

A range of various types of presence have been studied in past research: place (physical) presence, social presence, co-presence, and self-presence (Bulu, 2012; Morawitz, 2013). Place presence includes a persons subjective sense of being there, a persons response to the environment as being real or present, and finally a persons memory of the environment as a real place (Bulu, 2012). Although there are many contributing factors to a sense of place presence as well as debate over whether it is a psychological state or a property, Lee suggests that presence is an individual property that ebbs and flows (2004). Specifically, individual differences working in conjunction with dynamic content, both in the physical and virtual space, results in experiences that can promote or inhibit ones sense of presence (McCreery et al., 2013). The concept of self-presence will now be discussed. Self-presence refers to how a virtual representation of a person affects real world physiological and emotional states, traits, and identity (Morawitz, 2013). Morawitz theorized that self-presence in a virtual environment affects a persons perception of themselves, their behaviors, and their overall well-being (2013). With regards to self-presence, it is thought that an avatars experiences could be used to evaluate a persons real self (Lee, 2004). In fact, Morawitz found that as a person experiences self-presence with their avatar, the in-world relationships formed are perceived as meeting psychological needs and increasing real world well-being (2013). Additionally, self-presence with ones avatar was found to affect real world appearance change and health behaviors (Morawitz, 2013).

Modality, richness, and presence For co-presence to occur, a number of people must share a common environment and have a sense of presence in that environment (Durlach and Slater, 2000). The most relevant definition of co-presence describes it as a perception of being in an environment with others (Bulu, 2012). Additionally, co-presence is the degree to which people are available and

accessible to one another as well as subject to each other. In general, task involvement, a rich and complex virtual environment, and a realistic virtual environment all contribute to a greater sense of presence and co-presence (2012). Finally, social presence has been defined as the degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and the consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships (Bulu, 2012). It was found that immediacy (i.e. behaviors during communication that lessen the psychological distance felt between those in the interaction) and intimacy (i.e. feeling comfortable in the interaction, increases self-disclosure) affect how personal people get when interacting with others and that eye contact, smiling, and physical distance can actually help maintain an interaction (2012). Media Richness Theory helps provide some background on social presence. Much of the research regarding social presence has focused on how people communicate using different types of media (Bulu, 2012; Sallnas, 2005). Short (as cited in Mennecke, Triplett, Hassall, Conde, & Heer, 2011) developed an early theory of social presence, which describes an ability (or inability) to transmit information and communicate both verbally and through nonverbal cues as well as with different types of media. Recently, Jin conducted a study which resulted in the conclusion that communication among avatars can increase levels of social presence and parasocial interactions (2010). Parasocial interactions were defined as users interpersonal involvement with other avatars and their perception as interacting with virtual actors in the

Modality, richness, and presence environment. Jin examined avatars interaction with a recommendation avatar acting as a

medical professional which provided health information to participants (2010). Participants were asked questions in the real world that reflected how they rated their social presence and closeness of parasocial interaction with the recommendation avatar. The social presence questions, How much did you feel like it was a face-to-face encounter? obtained a Cronbachs alpha of .72. Additionally, when measuring the closeness of the interaction, I think the recommendation avatar could be a friend of mine, received a Cronbachs alpha of .92. Jin concluded that those who have higher interpersonal self-construal experienced closer parasocial interactions and more social presence than those who have lower interpersonal self-construal (2010). Following the development of the social presence theory, a newer theory of social presence was conceptualized. Mennecke et al. developed the embodied social presence (ESP) theory (2011). The ESP theory is a framework for a higher levels of perceptual engagement that users experience as they engage in activity-based social interaction in virtual environments (pg. 413). The main premise of the ESP theory is that communication increases embodied sense of self in virtual environments. This increased sense of self-presence is realized through meaningful or symbolic interaction in a particular context. The shared environment and tools help make the interaction meaningful (2011). In 2009, Jin studied message modality (textual or audio) and its effects on spokesavatar credibility and value of message were studied. Results indicated that textual modality increased source credibility, value of the message, and social presence. Additionally, it was found that social presence mediated modality effects on the perceived importance of the message (2009).

Modality, richness, and presence Many factors may affect a persons sense of presence in a virtual environment. Some of these factors include individual differences, environment characteristics, and ability to control surroundings (Ling, Nefs, Brinkman, Qu and Heynderickx, 2013; Durlach and Slater, 2000). Witmer and Singer researched control factors such as degree and immediacy of control and modifiability of environment and sensory factors such as environmental richness, sensory modality. Environmental richness affects a sense of presence through the extent to which the environment stimulates the senses. The greater the sensory information transmitted to multiple and appropriate senses, the greater the sense of presence will be in the virtual environment.

Distraction factors were examined, including isolation and selective attention and realism factors including scene realism, meaningfulness of experience, and separation anxiety/disorientation when conceptualizing their presence questionnaire. As they were testing the reliability of their questionnaires, they found that control is a crucial component to having an increased sense of presence. Additionally, they found that selective attention, perceptual fidelity, naturalness of interactions, immersion and involvement are all important factors for increased reported presence in virtual worlds (1998). Ling et al. studied how individual characteristics affected presence (2013). The study looked at factors such as visual ability, immersive tendency, absorption, locus of control, empathy, spatial intelligence and demographic factors. A positive correlation was found between immersive tendencies, visual acuity, empathy, absorption, and presence (2013). Similar results were found by Sacau, Laarni, and Hartman (2008). They cited that absorption, imagination, and immersive tendencies were all related to presence. Because Second Life is a virtual environment with a social platform versus a traditional objective based platform, it was determined that the focus of this research would be to determine

Modality, richness, and presence if social presence varies according to communication modality and environmental richness. Specifically, the research would look at textual and audio communication and low and high environmental richness. The trends in the literature suggest that communication modality influences the degree of social presence (Jin, 2009). A second trend to emerge regarding overall presence is the importance of the virtual environment to engage users senses through environmental richness (Witmer & Singer, 1998; Slater, 2009). Furthermore, Jin concluded that further research could focus on factors of presence that explain users perceived realism of the virtual environment to aid in understanding the role of presence in various psychological mechanisms (2010). It is hypothesized that both communication modality and environmental

richness will have a significant effect on social presence. Specifically, audio communication will increase social presence more than text communication. It is also predicted that the level of environmental richness will increase overall presence. More specifically, high environmental richness will have a more significant effect on overall presence than low environmental richness. Additionally, it is hypothesized that an interaction which affects social presence will be existent. It is predicted that audio communication and a high environmental richness location will result in increased social presence. Proposed Method Research Participants It is proposed that the participants for this study will be recruited from Second Life and the study will be carried out in Second Life. Potential participants will initially be screened by the number of days they have been residents in Second Life. All participants will be older than 30 days to allow for basic familiarity of Second Life. It is expected that the study will require

Modality, richness, and presence approximately 120 participants, 30 participants per group. Second Life residents must be 18 years of age and older, the age of the sampled population will be 18 and up. Recruitment Three research assistants will use the search tool in the Singularity viewer and enter worlds found in Showcase under the whats hot now tab (see figure 1.1) to screen for participants who are greater than 30 days old. Research assistants will check their Second Life profile to make sure their account has been active for 30 days or more before approaching them. Once

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participants are found that meet the criteria, researchers will follow the script (See Appendix A) to attempt to recruit residents by communicating via instant messaging. The script includes information about the study, a chance to answer questions the potential participants may have and a teleport (in-world Second Life travel) offer to the location of the study. Advertisements will also be placed in Second Life. In a study done to find the most effective recruitment methods in Second Life, it was found that paid advertisements posted in the Second Life classifieds recruited over a third of the respondents and the Second Life newspaper recruited over 20 percent of respondents (Dean et al., 2012). Therefore, along with actively finding participants, an advertisement will be placed in both of those locations. An advertisement posted to the Second Life Classifieds which is visible on the Second Life website as well as along the side of the in-world search engine (see figure 1.2) cost L$3,000 which is equivalent to $12. A one-time post to the main thread of The Alphaville Herald (http://alphavilleherald.com/) (see figure 1.3) which is included in the RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication which sends out headlines and updates to subscribers) costs L$10,000 or $38 (2012). Advertisements will say,

Modality, richness, and presence Earn free Linden! Learn about stress reduction and get L$500! When avatars click the link, they will be provided information about the study, compensation and contact information.

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Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2

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Figure 1.3

Materials Materials to be used in the proposed research include an informed consent (See Appendix B) and demographics survey (See Appendix D). Questions asked include those inquiring about age, gender, how long they have been a resident on Second Life, level of education finished in real life, and the number of hours spent on Second Life per week. In addition, the demographics will include the 4 items Jin modified (original created by Lee, Peng, Jin and Yan, 2006) to measure social presence (2010). The Presence Questionnaire (PQ) (See Appendix E) developed by Witmer and Singer (1998) will be given to participants. The PQ is measured on a seven point Likert scale with responses ranging from not to very degrees. The PQ scale is 19 items with a resultant alpha

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of .88 (Cronbachs, N=152). The PQ scale averages a score of 98.11 with a standard deviation of 15.78 (1998). The PQ has three subscales. The first subscale is the involvement and control scale which addresses perceived control of events in a virtual environment, how involving the visual aspects of the virtual environment are, and responsiveness of the user to the virtual environment. The second subscale is the natural scale which measures the extent to which interactions felt natural, extent that the virtual environment is consistent with reality, and how natural the mode of control (i.e. mouse or keyboard) was. The final subscale is the interface quality scale which looks at control device, task performance, and concentration. Items on the PQ scale include questions such as How much were you able to control events?, How much did the visual aspects of the environment involve you?, How much did your experiences in the virtual environment seem consistent with your real-world experience?, and How much delay did you experience between your actions and expected outcomes? The Forms and Surveys Agent (See figure 2.1) purchased from the Second Life Marketplace for L$799 will be used to administer the informed consent, ITQ, PQ, and debriefing. The Forms and Surveys Agent is a tool which administers questionnaires, surveys, applications, tests, etc. It can accept answers in many forms including text, numerical, and multiple choice answers. It is all done privately so confidentiality is ensured. Question flow can also be altered depending on answers which can help exclude those who have been residents for less than 30 days. The Forms and Surveys Agent ensures that all questions are completed on the current page before moving on. The tool will also be used to compensate participants at the completion of the study. Land and a building (see figures 2.2 and 2.3) were obtained from Marishka Ixito with MRG Rentals for use by the high environmental richness group (groups 3 and 4). A Euroloft was

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rented from MRG for L$375 per week for the study. The loft is located at IBO3 at Incubus (15, 243, 400). An empty building (see figures 2.4 and 2.5) was obtained for free and placed in a barren land at Ferox (61, 240, 23) without much stimuli or color variation to be used for the low environmental richness group (groups 1 and 2). Finally, a team of six undergraduate research assistants from Minnesota State University Moorhead will aid in carrying out the research. Three research assistants will aid in recruiting participants and the other three will serve as confederates in the information session on stress reduction. They will have no monetary compensation but will receive a letter grade based on their performance as research assistants.

Figure 2.1

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Figure 2.2

Figure 2.3

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Figure 2.4

Figure 2.5

Modality, richness, and presence Procedure There will be two factors with two levels each. Participants will be split up into four

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groups by communication modality and high or low environmental richness: Group 1 is text and low environmental richness, group 2 audio and low environmental richness, group 3 is text and high environmental richness, and group 4 is audio and high environmental richness (see Table 1). Participants will be randomly assigned groups following group order (1st participant = group 1, 2nd participant = group 2, 3rd participant = group 3, 4th participant = group 4, etc.) if they express that they are interested in participating. A teleport will be offered reflecting their respective group. If the participant was assigned group 1 or 2, they will be teleported to the low environmental richness location. Participants assigned to group 3 or 4 will travel to the high environmental richness location. Additionally, those in groups 1 and 3 will receive the information through text in instant messaging. Groups 2 and 4 will get the information through in-world audio. The spokes-avatar will hold the talk button while providing information and release it to hear responses. Once arriving at the location, the participant will be sent a notecard containing the informed consent from the researchers inventory. The participant must agree to it by providing their username and the current date, save it into their inventory, and send it back to the researcher before beginning the experiment. Upon receiving the notecard, participants usernames will be converted into an alphanumeric four character code to ensure confidentiality. After agreeing to the informed consent (see figure 3.1), the spokes-avatar (researcher) will engage the participant, invite him or her to join the group of 3 confederate avatars (research assistants) and provide conversation and information on stress reduction, following a standardized script for approximately 10 minutes via either text or audio depending on group assignment (see Appendix C).

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Table 1. Group Assignment by Communication Modality and Level of Environmental Richness Communication Modality Level of Environmental Richness Low Environmental Richness High Environmental Richness Group 3 Group 4 Group 1 Group 2 Text Audio

Figure 3.1

Modality, richness, and presence After completing the information session with the spokes-avatar, participants will approach the Forms and Surveys Agent and click it to engage. They will read a statement

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reminding them that their participation is voluntary and that they may withdraw at any time. The demographics survey will then be administered. The first question of the demographics will inquire about the length of time they have been a resident of Second Life for informational purposes since part of the recruitment process was selecting participants who have had an active account for 30 days or more. This is to ensure their age and at least basic knowledge of Second Life. Following the demographics, participants will be administered the 19 item PQ. Following completion of the study, participants will be compensated L$500 which is equivalent to USD$2 by the Forms and Surveys Agent. They will also be debriefed (see Appendix F) through the Forms and Surveys Agent which will include thanking them for their participation, providing them with the research hypothesis, and contact information if they have further questions. Results will then be emailed to the researcher to be compiled for analysis. Analysis It is proposed to use a two factor analysis (ANOVA).The two factors will be the communication modality and level of environmental richness. There will be two levels of each factor. The communication modality will consist of text communication and audio communication. The two levels of environmental richness include low environmental richness and high environmental richness. The scores from the social presence questions will be added to the Presence Questionnaire score to determine an overall presence score. It will also be considered separately to determine if there was more of an effect on solely social presence.

Modality, richness, and presence References

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Banos, R., Botella, C., Rubio, I., Quero, S, Garcia-Palacios, A., & Alcaniz, M. (2008). Presence and emotions in virtual environments: The influence of stereoscopy. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 11 (1). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3186c9323b16-4585-87bb-66e24c486995%40sessionmgr14&vid=22&hid=101 Bulu, S. (2012). Place presence, social presence, co-presence, and satisfaction in virtual worlds. Computers & Education, 58 (1). Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/science/article/pii/S03601315110020 28 Bystrom, K., Barfield, W., & Hendrix, C. (1999). A conceptual model of the sense of presence in virtual environments. Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 8(2). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=0e c318b-f00c-407d-b78f-8d368e76bd25%40sessionmgr198&hid=15 Dean, E., Cook, S., Murphy, J., & Keating, M. (2012). The effectiveness of survey recruitment methods in second life. Social Science Computer Review, 30 (3). Retrieved from http://ssc.sagepub.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/content/30/3/324.full.pdf+html Durlach, N. & Slater, M. (2000). Presence in shared virtual environments and virtual togetherness. Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environemnts, 9 (2). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0efc318bf00c-407d-b78f-8d368e76bd25%40sessionmgr198&vid=6&hid=15

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Gaggioli, A., Mantovani, F., Castelnuovo, G., Wiederhold, B., & Riva, G. (2003). Avatars in clinical psychology: A framework for the clinical use of virtual humans. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 6 (2). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3186c9323b16-4585-87bb-66e24c486995%40sessionmgr14&vid=24&hid=101 Jin, S. (2009). Modality effects in Second Life: The mediating role of social presence and the moderating role of product involvement. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 12 (6). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=86326457d564-4f51-8e29-84f91097874a%40sessionmgr4&vid=4&hid=16 Jin, S. (2010). Parasocial interaction with an avatar in Second Life: A typology of the self and the empirical test of the mediating role of social presence. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 9 (4). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=86326457d564-4f51-8e29-84f91097874a%40sessionmgr4&vid=10&hid=16 Koles, B. & Nagy, P. (2012). Who is portrayed in Second Life: Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? The extent of congruence between real life and virtual identity. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 5 (1). Retrieved from http://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/view/2150.

Modality, richness, and presence Lee, K. (2004). Presence, explicated. Communication Theory, 14 (1). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/detail?sid=3186c932-3b16-458587bb-66e24c486995%40sessionmgr14&vid=14&hid=2 Lee, K. M., Peng, W., Jin, S-A., & Yan, C. (2006). Can robots manifest personality? An

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empirical test of personality recognition, social responses, and social presence in humanrobot interaction. Journal of Communication, 56(4), 754772. Ling, Y., Nefs, H., Brinkman, W., Qu, C., & Heynderickx, I. (2013). The relationship between individual characteristics and experienced presence. Computers in Human Behavior, 29 (4). Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/science/article/pii/S07475632120033 91 McCreery, M., Schrader, P., Krach, K., & Boone, R. (2013). A sense of self: The role of presence in virtual environments. Computers in Human Behavior, 29 (4). Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/science/article/pii/S07475632130005 87 Mennecke, B., Triplett, J., Hassal, L., Conde, Z., & Heer, R. (2011). An examination of a theory of embodied social presence in virtual worlds. Decision Sciences Journal, 42 (2). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3186c9323b16-4585-87bb-66e24c486995%40sessionmgr14&vid=4&hid=106

Modality, richness, and presence Moninger, J. (2013). 10 relaxation tips that zap stress fast. WebMD. 2013, September 30. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/blissing-out-10-relaxationtechniques-reduce-stress-spot Morawitz, E. (2013). Mirrored selves: The influence of self-presence in a virtual world on health, appearance, and well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 29 (1). Retrieved from

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http://www.sciencedirect.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/science/article/pii/S07475632120022 69 Sacau, A., Laarni, J., & Hartmann, T. (2008). Influence of individual factors on presence. Computers in Human Behavior, 24 (5). Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/science/article/pii/S07475632120033 91 Sallnas, E. (2005). Effects of communication mode on social presence, virtual presence, and performance in collaborative virtual environments. Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 14 (4). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3186c9323b16-4585-87bb-66e24c486995%40sessionmgr14&vid=12&hid=104 Slater, M. (2009). Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behavior in immersive virtual environments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.trmproxy.mnpals.net/pmc/articles/PMC2781884/pdf/rstb20 090138.pdf

Modality, richness, and presence Witmer, B. & Signer, M. (1998). Measuring presence in virtual environments: A presence questionnaire. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7(3). Retrieved from

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http://vislab.cs.vt.edu/~quek/Classes/Aware%2BEmbodiedInteraction/PAPERS/WitS98Presence.pdf Zahorik, P. & Jenison, R. (1998). Presence as being-in-the-world. Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 7 (1). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.trmproxy.mnpals.net/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=20&sid=31 86c932 -3b16-4585-87bb-66e24c486995%40sessionmgr14&hid=2

Modality, richness, and presence Appendix A Recruitment Script

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Hello! Would you be interested in participating in a research study and earning free Linden? I am a researcher from Minnesota State University Moorhead trying to conduct an experiment within Second Life. You would learn about ways to reduce stress either via text or audio and answer a few questions about your experience. Would you be interested?

If yes I am looking to measure presence in Second Life. I will send a teleport for you to accept and then you will participate in the information session and answer a survey. It will take approximately 30 minutes and you will be compensated L$500. Do you have any questions?

If no Thank you for your time. Enjoy your day.

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Appendix B Department of Psychology Minnesota State University Moorhead Informed Consent Form Please read this consent agreement carefully before agreeing to participate in this experiment. Title of Experiment: Communication modality and environmental richness: Effects on social and overall presence Purpose of the experiment: The purpose of this research is to look at the relationship between virtual environment and sense of presence. What you will do in this experiment: You will be asked to attend an information session on stress reduction, complete a demographics survey and the Presence Questionnaire. Time required: The experiment will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Risks: There are no anticipated risks associated with participating in this study.

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Benefits: You will be compensated L$500 for your participation in this study. Additionally, you will acquire first-hand experience in how psychological research is conducted. At the end of the experiment, you will receive an explanation of the experiment, the hypotheses, and the potential implications of the results of the study. Confidentiality: Your participation in this experiment will remain confidential. Your Second Life username will be converted into an alphanumeric 4 character code so there will be no identifying information with your results. Participation and withdrawal: Your participation in this experiment is completely voluntary, and you may withdraw from the experiment at any time. If you do not finish the study through to completion however, you will not receive compensation. You may withdraw at any time simply by exiting the Forms and Surveys Agent and leaving the location designated for the study. Contact: If you have questions about this study, you may contact me through Second Life instant messaging via the username kaisawyer. Whom to contact about your rights in this experiment: Dr. Margaret Potter, potter@mnstate.edu, phone 477-2805, Chair, Psychology Department Research Committee, or else Dr. Richard Adler, adlerri@mnstate.edu, phone 477-2474, Chair of MSUM Institutional Research Board. Agreement: The purpose and nature of this research have been sufficiently explained and I agree to participate in this study. I understand that I am free to withdraw at any time without incurring any penalty. In signing this agreement, I also affirm that I am at least 18 years of age or older. Username: _____________________________________ Date: __________________

Modality, richness, and presence Appendix C Information Session Script (Moninger, 2013) Hello there (insert username)! How are you doing today? I am glad you chose to participate in the study. You will learn ten ways to help you reduce stress every day. Please have a seat and we will begin. I have a question for all of you before we start. What are your everyday sources of stress? Confederate 1: Work is really stressful for me. It seems that weekends arent long enough to recuperate. Confederate 2: Trying to take care of my kids daily needs and my own at the same time.

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Confederate 3: Balancing school, homework, and a job seems nearly impossible. There are days where I have to skip class or work because it is just too much. Wait for participant to respond. If not, a prompt will be given: What about you, (insert username)? It seems as if you are all experiencing a tremendous amount of stress on a daily basis. One way that could help you alleviate that stress is to meditate. To meditate you sit up straight and focus on a positive mantra while breathing deeply. A second way to reduce stress is to simply breathe deeply and take a five minute break from life. Be present. Slow down and focus on only one behavior at a time. A fourth way is to reach out. Talk to someone about what is going on. It will help you manage your stress and build on relationships. A fifth way is to tune into your body and pay close attention to sensations. You can also decompress. Place a heat wrap on your neck and shoulders and relax as the warmth radiates through. It helps to laugh out loud. Laughter actually lowers cortisol the stress hormone. Find the humor all around you and let the stress go. Cranking up the tunes can relieve stress too. Rock out and dance around to some upbeat music or relax with the sounds of nature. Either way you are sure to feel better. You can even exercise your stress away. It doesnt have to be running a marathon, yoga and walking can reduce stress just as well as running can.

Modality, richness, and presence

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Finally, be grateful. Think about all the things and people in your life that are good. Be grateful for your blessings, it cancels out the worries and negative thoughts. So now that we have learned all about ways to reduce stress, which ones do you think you are going to try? Confederate 1: I really enjoy music so the next time I am stressed I will crank up some tunes. Confederate 2: I think a nice walk will do wonders. Give me a break from the kids and taking 10 minutes to myself. Confederate 3: I am going to try and be grateful for everything that I have going on. Grateful that I have a job, and am fortunate enough to go to school. Wait for participants response. Thank you for being interested and wanting to learn. You can now complete the surveys by activating the Forms and Surveys Agent across the room.

Modality, richness, and presence Appendix D Demographics Survey 1. How long have you been a resident of Second Life?

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2. When considering the current Second Life session, approximately how many minutes have you been logged in?

3. Number of hours spent in Second Life per week.

4. Age a. b. c. d. 18-24 years 25-44 years 45-64 years 64 years +

5. Gender a. Male b. Female c. Rather not answer

6. Level of completed education a. High School Diploma b. Some College c. Associates Degree d. Bachelors Degree e. Masters Degree f. Doctorate or professional degree

Modality, richness, and presence 7. How much did you feel as if you were alone? a. Not at all b. Slightly c. Somewhat d. Neutral e. Quite a bit f. Moderately g. Very much 8. How much did you feel as if you were with an intelligent being? a. Not at all b. Slightly c. Somewhat d. Neutral e. Quite a bit f. Moderately g. Very Much 9. How much did you feel as if you and the spokes-avatar were communicating with each other? a. Not at all b. Slightly c. Somewhat d. Neutral e. Quite a bit f. Moderately g. Very Much 10. How much did you feel like it was a face-to-face encounter? a. Not at all b. Slightly c. Somewhat d. Neutral e. Quite a bit f. Moderately g. Very Much

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Modality, richness, and presence Appendix E Presence Questionnaire (Originally adapted from Witmer and Singer, 1998) Characterize your experience in the environment by choosing a number to correspond with the degree to which you experienced these factors in accordance with question content and

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descriptive labels. Please consider the entire scale, as some responses may be at the intermediate levels. 1. How much were you able to control events? 1
Not At All

4
Occasionally

7
Completely

2. How responsive was the environment to actions that you initiated (or performed)? 1
Not Responsive

4
Moderately Responsive

7
Completely Responsive

3. How natural did your interactions with the environment seem? 1 2 3 4

Borderline

7
Completely Natural

Extremely Artificial

4. How much did the visual aspects of the environment involve you? 1
Not At All

4
Somewhat

7
Completely

5. How natural was the mechanism which controlled movement through the environment? 1 2 3 4
Borderline

7
Completely Natural

Extremely Artificial

Modality, richness, and presence 6. How compelling was your sense of objects moving through space? 1
Not At All

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4
Moderately Compelling

7
Very Compelling

7. How much did your experiences in the virtual environment seem consistent with your real world experiences? 1
Not Consistent

4
Moderately Consistent

7
Very Consistent

8. Were you able to anticipate what would happen next in response to actions that you performed? 1
Not At All

4
Somewhat

7
Completely

9. How completely were you able to actively survey or search the environment using vision? 1
Not At All

4
Somewhat

7
Completely

10. How compelling was your sense of moving around inside the virtual environment? 1
Not Compelling

4
Moderately Compelling

7
Very Compelling

11. How closely were you able to examine objects? 1

Not At All

4
Pretty Closely

7
Very Closely

12. How well could you examine objects from multiple viewpoints? 1
Not At All

4
Somewhat

7
Extensively

Modality, richness, and presence 13. How involved were you in the virtual environment experience? 1
Not Involved

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4
Moderately Involved

7
Very Involved

14. How much delay did you experience between your actions and expected outcomes? 1
No Delays

4
Moderate Delays

7
Long Delays

15. How quickly did you adjust to the virtual environment experience? 1
Not At All

4
Slowly

7
Less than 1 Minute

16. How proficient in moving and interacting with the virtual environment did you feel at the end of the experience? 1
Not Proficient

4
Reasonably Proficient

7
Very Proficient

17. How much did the visual display quality interfere or distract you from performing assigned tasks or required activities? 1
Not At All

4
Somewhat

7
Completely

18. How much did the control devices interfere with the performance of assigned tasks or with other activities? 1
Not At All

4
Somewhat Interfered

7
Interfered Greatly

19. How well could you concentrate on the assigned tasks or required activities rather than on the mechanisms used to perform those tasks or activities? 1
Not At All

4
Somewhat

7
Completely

Modality, richness, and presence Appendix F Debriefing statement

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Thank you for participating in this research study. The researcher is looking at how communication modalities (text vs. audio) and level of environmental richness (low and high) affect social presence and overall sense of presence. It is predicted that audio and high environmental richness will increase presence scores. If you are interested in the results of the study please feel free to contact kaisawyer.