Embodied Without Matter: An Analysis of Embodiment Definitions in VR Game Design ResearchShow others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: Lect. Notes Comput. Sci., Springer Nature , 2025, p. 220-236Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
The concept of embodiment is widely discussed in virtual reality (VR) game design research; however, its operationalisation remains inconsistent. This study investigates whether current definitions of embodiment in VR game research are overly vague or imprecise, potentially undermining their utility as an analytical and design framework. Analysing 35 empirical academic papers, we identified that only 11 directly defined embodiment. To examine the conceptual alignment of these definitions, we employed computational analysis techniques, including term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF), cosine similarity, and hierarchical clustering. Our findings indicate notable discrepancies in how embodiment is defined in research on VR game design, suggesting that several definitions lack consistency. The study contributes to the field by offering a data-driven analysis of embodiment in VR games, highlighting areas where greater definitional precision is needed to support robust research and design practices.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature , 2025. p. 220-236
Series
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, ISSN 0302-9743 ; 15816 LNCS
Keywords [en]
Computational Analysis, Cosine Similarity, Embodiment, Game Design Research, Hierarchical Clustering, TF-IDF, Virtual Reality, Computational methods, Game design, Inverse problems, Current definition, Design research, Hier-archical clustering, Term frequencyinverse document frequency (TF-IDF)
National Category
Computer and Information Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-72418DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-92578-8_15ISI: 001584508900015Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105008265632ISBN: 9783031925771 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mdh-72418DiVA, id: diva2:1976734
Conference
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
2025-06-252025-06-252025-12-03Bibliographically approved