60 https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/dmlab/research/alexandrovsky-2021 Engaging interaction: designing for immersive and sustained user experiences en University of Bremen Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:43:53 +0200 Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:43:53 +0200 University of Bremen content-416318 Fri, 06 Mar 2026 09:12:09 +0100 https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/dmlab/research/alexandrovsky-2021#c416318 <p>Engagement has become a fundamental research topic in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).<br /> Extending the notion of traditional usability, HCI has focused on the hedonic properties of<br /> interactive systems. In particular, gameful design and multimodal interaction received much<br /> attention in the literature. However, despite a significant and growing body of research on<br /> engaging design, many interactive systems for learning, training and, health intervention<br /> suffer from low participation and massive attrition. The present work tackles this gap and<br /> investigates how interaction design can support a sustainable engagement with interactive<br /> systems. As engagement is a manifold construct that involves affective, cognitive and behavioral<br /> components. In this thesis, it is conceptualized from the perspectives of experience<br /> intensity and in terms of user behavior. These two perspectives are addressed in three threads<br /> of research: (i) game design for user engagement: effects of game elements on engagement,<br /> (ii) haptic interaction in engaging environments: effects of interaction modality on engagement,<br /> and (iii) assessment methods of user engagement in immersive environments: effects of<br /> embedded assessment methods on engagement. The thread on game design is twofold. This<br /> work presents the snacking framework, which consists of five game mechanics that facilitate<br /> a regular but brief play pattern. The snacking framework was first developed and evaluated<br /> using a casual game and then transferred onto a serious game. Adjacent to the snacking game<br /> mechanics, for a special case of serious games in the context of exposure therapy in Virtual<br /> Reality (VR), this work discusses an alternative approach to game design which employs an<br /> approach of playful user-generated content. The interaction design investigates the effects of<br /> haptic interaction on user engagement. This thread of research examines how static passive<br /> props both in VR as well as in the physical reality and interaction with sand – as a form<br /> of passive shape-changing props – in VR affect the user engagement. The meta-research on<br /> measurement methods developed and evaluated an approach that allows administering subjective<br /> self-reports in the form of questionnaires directly in the virtual environments. On a<br /> macro-level, these lines of research conceptualize the design for user engagement holistically<br /> and afford prescriptive design elements. On the micro-level, this dissertation extends existing<br /> theories of engagement and reveals how different design elements affect user behavior and the<br /> intensity of experiences with interactive systems.</p> <p><a class="externalLink" href="https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/957" target="_blank" title="Opens external link in new window">Thesis online</a></p> Content