A study on viewer satisfaction using virtual reality (VR) technology for spectating a sports’ game: Focusing on differences in viewers’ previous athletic experience

Abstract

In recent years, using virtual reality (VR) technology has been attracting attention as a way to watch sports. Knowing the level of satisfaction of spectators and the characteristics of spectators will contribute to development of sports spectating. The purpose of this study was to ascertain information on the level of satisfaction of spectators while watching VR rugby games. As it is possible to measure the level of satisfaction using brain waves, an electroencephalograph (EEG) was used to examine the differences between experienced rugby players and inexperienced VR viewers. The subjects were 2 male college students who are rugby players and 2 male college students who have never played rugby. The subjects watched highlights of a VR rugby match for two minutes while wearing EEG electrodes (NeuroSky Co. Ltd., Japan). The brain waves measured with an EEG was changed to the level of satisfaction with the KANSEI module logger (Littlesoftware Inc., Japan). First, the amount of change in satisfaction between the resting-state and VR watching-state was calculated individually. In addition, we conducted a time series analysis of the degree of satisfaction. The results indicate that, “scrum,” “tackle” and “try” scenes were high satisfaction points for rugby players compared to the non-player. It was also found that there is a difference in satisfaction in the moment when the players enter the stadium between rugby players and the non-player. In conclusion, these results found that there is a difference in satisfaction between experienced players and non-player. It was suggest that when broadcasting a sports game in VR, it is necessary to take into consideration the previous sports experience of the viewers.