Influence of Interfaces on Novice Users' Performance in Social Virtual Worlds

Abstract

This paper explores how interface environments have an influence on novice users’ performance in social virtual worlds (SVWs), which are emerging user-centric three-dimensional cyberspaces. Despite their early popularity, SVWs have experienced that numerous new users leave the cyberspaces soon before they become long-term users. One possible reason is that unfamiliar interfaces of SVWs can be a barrier to novice users’ adaptation of the technology. To understand a role of interfaces in the users’ assimilation of SVWs, we examine an impact of three interface factors (presence, affordance, and feedback) on performance which is regarded as a yardstick for users’ adaptation of SVWs. Forty participants were recruited and went through one-hour experimental sessions with seven tasks in Second Life; they were also asked to answer a questionnaire. Findings indicate that while affordance and feedback are significant factors influencing novice users’ performance, presence has no impact on their performance