Effects of alternation latency on the impression of avatars in face-to-face customer training VR

Abstract

Due to the decrease in the labor force in the service industry, many face-toface customer service training simulators using virtual reality (VR) have been developed. The training simulator involves a dialogue with VR avatars, and it is necessary to give a sense of reality to the dialogue in order to perform training efficiently. In this study, we focused on the impression of avatars as an element that gives a sense of reality, and tried to manipulate the impression by changing the alternation latency of the avatar. An experiment was conducted in which the phrases expressing the impression of avatars were applied to various conditions with different avatar alternation latency, and significant differences were found in some items. This result suggests that the impression can be changed by changing the alternation latency of the avatar, and the reality of the dialogue can be improved.