Introduction to project Learning and preserving forests and their related organisms have a huge importance in keeping up human health as well as a healthy ecosystem. Humans have been living in mutualism with forests and their ecosystem in the past, however, given that our urban lifestyle obligates us to live in buildings for a long time, our connection with nature has been limited. Therefore, the effects of urbanization on the mental and body health of people are not positive because people aren’t able to interact with forests and nature. This idea is highlighted in Ulrich studies involving nature and urban effects on human emotions which Bratman, Hamilton, and Daily summarise as “Negative feelings such as fear were lower in the nature group as well. Additionally, urban viewers experienced increases in aggravation, anxiety, and feelings of sadness.” (Bratman, Daily, Hamilton,2012; Ulrich,1979) [1,6]. The study highlights the importance of interaction and access to nature to a person's mental health, where things related to nature had a positive effect on a person's well-being by reducing the negative effects created from modern living and environments. However, the world is going through global warming which is damaging the environment leading to a reduction of resources such as safe food and water (NASA,2021). In times of trouble, such as famine and drought, forest foods can provide and help mitigate malnutrition and food shortages by supplementing diets with nutrients they might not get otherwise (Bratman & Daily & Hamilton, 2012; Häkkinen et al., 1999; Johns & Maundu. 2006). Given this information, an emphasis on the importance of forest food and natural nutrition by educating about beneficial and edible foods versus those that are poisonous in the forest is important when addressing hunger. Therefore, creating a method and environment where users can access nature while also learning about edible forest foods can be beneficial in the long run. Creating a Virtual reality (VR) application with some gameful elements could provide an environment for both these aspects to be addressed. VR provides a safe learning area(there is no risk of poisoning) for users to learn through trial and error, a learning process with feedback, and a gameful interaction that can make the experience pleasurable and realistic.(Süncksen, et. al,2018)[5]
This project aims to address two ideas, bringing people together into a forest environment to experience the positive elements of mental health and teaching a few types of fungi along with their identifiable features and edibility. The project will be realized by creating a virtual reality atmosphere that users can explore and perform an activity. First of all, arousing curiosity in users could be the most efficient way to gather them in the forest. Therefore, it was decided to create a VR application that teaches users about different mushrooms that can be found in the forests. Then, users could take action by applying their new knowledge in the forest or by seeking new types of mushrooms in their surroundings. As emphasized in the introduction part, nature can have a positive effect on a human's mood and sense of well-being as well as provide a source of nutrition with the right edible plants or fungi. Gamification techniques may make people curious and competitive while enjoying themselves in the learning process. If we compound the two elements, VR and gamification techniques may be used to educate users on how to identify the types of forest foods, even if technology generally makes them antisocial. We can summarize the core aim of the project as the following: -Increase the ratio of being in a forest -Provide facilities to learn about mushrooms and to recognize mushroom types in case of facing any urgent situation.
- Reduce the stress level of users. (Yu, et al.,2018)[7]
The game has 2 scenes, one will be a tutorial scene followed by the main game screen. The tutorial scene provides the instructive game mechanics to teach mushroom types and core gameplay mechanics. The main screen follows the same mechanics learned in the tutorial scene but introduces some new challenges for the user. A detailed description of both scenes can be found below:
-
Tutorial Scene The tutorial scene takes place in a forest that has a board that includes pieces of information about fungi such as if they are poisonous, and their physical characteristics. By each description, there will be a small alcove where the user can place a mushroom. A picture and color label will also be provided for the users so that they can focus on learning the game mechanics. Around the scene, the users can find a variety of mushrooms growing and they would be charged with finding the mushrooms on the board and placing them in the correct alcove. When users have paired all the fungi with the right section on the table, they will be able to move on to the gameplay scene.
-
Game Scene As mentioned, eight types of mushrooms can be interacted with within the scene. Users need to collect mushrooms with controllers and should recognize each type of mushroom. However, unlike the tutorial the game has a time limit in which the users have to pick up and match all the mushrooms with the respective descriptions. Users need to recognize and collect all mushrooms on time otherwise, the game will not be finished successfully. Another challenge users must face is that unlike the tutorial there will be no image of the mushroom described so the user must locate the correct one from the description alone. The users would earn ten points when they match the correct mushroom to its description as well as be able to gain badges according to reached achievements. Getting badges in the game encourages the users, so that they feel successful and remain motivated to reach the goal.
Oculus Rift as a VR headset will be used in this project. Controllers of Oculus Rift can be used as users’ hands in-game. Users can move their heads 360 degrees vertically and horizontally so they can see the virtual atmosphere in the game scene. Users can walk around in a constrained area too. Fungi will be collected by the users by pressing the trigger button on either controller when their virtual hand is over the mushroom. They should match by carrying the fungi to the correct information on the board and placing it in the respective alcove to complete the game successfully within the time limit. Previously, is expected to learn all types of fungi in the tutorial scene with the same game mechanics in the main scene completely.
As we underlined in the introduction of the project portion, we can conclude that the forest is beneficial to human psychology. As we have mentioned on the aim of the project VR can provide a forest ecosystem without going to the forest. Therefore, users would go into the forest without going into the forest which can give an example of the unique aspect of the project. The project would raise the curiosity to feel the forest and recognize the types of fungi therefore users could fulfill the actual forest from the virtual environment. The project represents an innovative learning concept with gamification techniques. This is a completely different mode of teaching than common teaching methods. It is an example of the innovative side of projects. In the future of the project, We could implement a feature that will be able to measure either going or not users to the forest. There are some open APIs to recognize mushroom types by using neural networks and AI. They will take the picture of fungi that have been in-game when they go to the forest. The Unity engine is going to interact with API and recognize the type of fungi. The users can gain badges after the matching of fungi in the AI system.
- Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., & Daily, G. C. (2012). The impacts of nature experience on human cognitive function and mental health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1249(1), 118-136.
- Häkkinen, S., Heinonen, M., Kärenlampi, S., Mykkänen, H., Ruuskanen, J., & Törrönen, R. (1999). Screening of selected flavonoids and phenolic acids in 19 berries. Food - Research International, 32(5), 345-353.
- Johns, T., & Maundu, P. (2006). Forest biodiversity, nutrition, and population health in market-oriented food systems. UNASYLVA-FAO-, 57(2), 34.
- NASA, (2021), Nasa climate change and global warming, https://climate.nasa.gov/
- Süncksen, M., Bendig, H., Teistler, M., Wagner, M., Bott, O. J., & Dresing, K. (2018, May). Gamification and virtual reality for teaching mobile x-ray imaging. In 2018 IEEE 6th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.
- Ulrich, R.S. 1979. Visual landscapes and psychological well-being. Landscape Res. 4: 17–23.
- Yu, C. P., Lee, H. Y., & Luo, X. Y. (2018). The effect of virtual reality forest and urban environments on physiological and psychological responses. Urban forestry & urban greening, 35, 106-114.