Paper Number
ECIS2026-2634
Paper Type
CRP
Abstract
Digital sports increasingly adopt Virtual Reality (VR), enabling players to perform in immersive VR conditions rather than via non-immersive screen-based conditions. Yet little is known about how this display modality shift affects subjective and objective performance. In a between-subject experimental design, 80 players completed the same digital sports task in a 3D vs. 2D condition. Direct comparisons show that the immersive VR condition improves subjective and objective performance. When presence and immersion are included as mediators, presence enhances both performance measures, whereas immersion influences only subjective performance. The direct effect of the display modality becomes non-significant, indicating that performance improvements stem from players’ experience of digital sports rather than from VR technology itself. Extending prior work that mainly examined subjective or isolated performance dimensions, this study considers both subjective and objective performance from a holistic perspective. Our findings suggest that such a display modality shift could enhance players’ performance.
Recommended Citation
Lauer, Dennis; Stoetzer, Jens-Christian; Weber, Nina; Weiß, Florian; Buck, Christoph; and Guggenberger, Tobias, "From Flat Screens To Immersive Virtual Reality: How Virtual Reality Influences Subjective And Objective Performance In Digital Sports" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 6.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/esports/esports/6
From Flat Screens To Immersive Virtual Reality: How Virtual Reality Influences Subjective And Objective Performance In Digital Sports
Digital sports increasingly adopt Virtual Reality (VR), enabling players to perform in immersive VR conditions rather than via non-immersive screen-based conditions. Yet little is known about how this display modality shift affects subjective and objective performance. In a between-subject experimental design, 80 players completed the same digital sports task in a 3D vs. 2D condition. Direct comparisons show that the immersive VR condition improves subjective and objective performance. When presence and immersion are included as mediators, presence enhances both performance measures, whereas immersion influences only subjective performance. The direct effect of the display modality becomes non-significant, indicating that performance improvements stem from players’ experience of digital sports rather than from VR technology itself. Extending prior work that mainly examined subjective or isolated performance dimensions, this study considers both subjective and objective performance from a holistic perspective. Our findings suggest that such a display modality shift could enhance players’ performance.