Practicing requirements elicitation in a serious game: comparison between non-immersive and immersive virtual reality

Adilson Vahldick; Luis Felipe Kuster; Ana Fábia Coelho dos Santos; Gustavo Vargas de Andrade; João Marcus Cardoso; Marília Guterres Ferreira; Pablo Schoeffel; Marcelo de Souza

doi:10.55905/revconv.16n.12-134

Authors

Adilson Vahldick
Luis Felipe Kuster
Ana Fábia Coelho dos Santos
Gustavo Vargas de Andrade
João Marcus Cardoso
Marília Guterres Ferreira
Pablo Schoeffel
Marcelo de Souza

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55905/revconv.16n.12-134

Keywords:

serious games, virtual reality, requirements engineering

Abstract

One of the biggest problems in teaching Requirements Engineering at universities is the lack of access to real projects, which could allow students to interact with stakeholders and practice communication skills while conducting requirements elicitation. This article presents a serious game for practicing requirements elicitation through guided interviews with stakeholders. Two versions of the game were developed. The Immersive VR game was designed to run on mobile phones with Google Cardboard. A Non-Immersive version was also developed to run on Windows. Systematic literature reviews point out a lack of immersive VR games for learning Software Engineering. Moreover, the game proposed here is a pioneer in the addressed subject, including the use of low-cost technologies, such as Google Cardboard. The game was tested for 20 minutes by 46 students in two classes of the Bachelor's Degree in Software Engineering. After the test in the first class, the game was improved, and another test was conducted. The purpose of the validation was to verify the sense of presence among the students through a presence questionnaire (PQ). The highest averages were identified in the non-immersive version. For the immersive version, the statistically significant lowest evaluated values pertained to movement within the environment and the feeling of disorientation at the end of the experience. This indicates the need for improvements regarding movement. The literature suggests two directions: the first is to reduce the duration of experimentation with immersive environments, and the second suggests exploring alternative mechanisms for movement within the environment. It is important to remember that the students experimented with their own mobile phones, that is, they did not use dedicated VR equipment. Therefore, it can be concluded that developing VR solutions for these devices requires more restrictive decisions.

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