Is a Virtual Ferrari as Good as the Real One? Children’s Initial Reactions to Virtual Reality Experiences

Abstract

The Virtual Reality (VR) world is very suggestive as it intensely affects the senses of vision, hearing and—to a limited extent—touch. It can be expected that in the near future VR will be widely disseminated and used by people of all ages, including children. We decided to conduct a qualitative research project to assess children’s (aged 7–12) first reactions to the use of VR. Children’s opinions and reactions gathered during the interviews indicate that children highly appreciated the attractiveness of the virtual experiences, which were often assessed at a similar or higher level than their real-world counterparts. Our findings clearly suggest that children very easily adopt VR without any prior experience with that technology. We recommend that studies on children’s behavior in VR are continued.