In Serum 13 – A Virtual Reality Trust Game, people wear a VR headset and have to solve several tricky puzzles to produce a life-saving serum for the threatened creatures of the mystical island world of Xiranda. In the virtual reality of a medical laboratory, the players have to read out x-rays, connect proteins properly and find the only safe way out of the building.
To assist in the decision-making process, an Artificial Intelligence provides tips and recommendations throughout the game. But beware: this is a prototype that is not yet fully developed and could be wrong. A central challenge in Serum 13 is therefore to decide: Do I trust the advice of the AI? Or do I prefer to decide by myself?
With Serum 13, the LIT Robopsychology Lab takes up current questions on the usage of algorithmic decision systems and human autonomy. Serum 13 combines scientific methods of psychological trust research with state-of-the-art virtual reality and gamification approaches in a unique way.
You can participate in this virtual reality study yourself during the Ars Electronica Festival 2021 (in German language only). Register here.
Credits
Project Lead: Martina Mara
VR & Game Development: Polycular (Thomas Layer-Wagner, Michael Heiml, Tobias Hoffmann)
Research Design: Martina Mara, Simon Schreibelmayr, Laura Moradbakhti
Special Thanks to: Christopher Lindinger
