Exploring Emotional Responses of Immersive VR Video Content Across Genres

In the burgeoning metaverse, Virtual Reality (VR) videos offer an unprecedented level of immersion, surpassing traditional flat screen videos. This study investigates whether this heightened immersion triggers stronger emotional responses in viewers. Employing a meticulously constructed dataset comprising questionnaires, this study investigates emotional variances through comparative analyses of two viewing modalities—panoramic videos on a screen (No-HMD) versus through VR glasses (HMD)—across multiple genres including horror, adventure, scenic, singing shows, Chinese crosstalk, and talkshows. Results indicate that viewers exposed to horror, adventure, singing shows, Chinese crosstalk, and talkshow videos via HMD reported heightened emotional responses compared to the No-HMD condition. However, emotional disparities between HMD and No-HMD conditions were negligible for scenic videos. In conclusion, this research enhances our understanding of the emotional impact of highly immersive VR across diverse video content genres, contributing to both subjective and objective evaluations of VR video content within the metaverse.