Consent is crucial in establishing boundaries and respect for personal autonomy. It is an essential concept in legal and social contexts, becoming increasingly relevant in recent years. It is commonly understood as an agreement between two or more people for something to occur. Depending on the context, it may be necessary for activities, interactions, and medical procedures. This research explores using an immersive virtual environment as a tool for experiential learning approaches to help users learn and train themselves in verbal consent scenarios. The study examines and explores related concepts using research through design methodology and looks at the effectiveness of using Virtual Reality (VR) as a technology for the user to learn about verbal consent via scenarios in an immersive environment. VR can facilitate the sense of embodiment for the user. This research allows users to interact with a non-playable character to practice and learn about consent, without judgment.
The effectiveness of using VR as a learning tool for consent was evaluated through research through design methodology and user testing, utilizing a quantitative data analysis approach. Pre- and post-experiment surveys were administered to assess the experiment's effectiveness, and the collected data was synthesized and analyzed to comprehend the research outcome.
Keywords: Immersive virtual environments, consent, conversational agent, experiential learning, embodiment, interactions, non-player character