User Experience of VR Sports: A Uses and Gratifications View

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) sports have become a new phenomenon in sports. We have witnessed an increase in VR sports among individual participants in their casual lives during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a lack of a deep understanding of the user experience in VR sports usage in casual life at the individual participant level. To address the above research gap, this research explores the user experience of VR sports based on a uses and gratifications perspective via interviews among twelve VR sports users. The present research provides a deep understanding of the user experience of VR sports usage by identifying four gratifications in VR sports usage that meet users’ psychological needs. The four gratifications are hedonic gratification, utilitarian gratification, technology gratification, and social gratification.