Exploring the Role of Transcendence and Naturalness in Motivating Individuals in the Metaverse: A Mixed-Method Study

Despite metaverse affords unique sensory experience transcending the real world, how to motivate individuals to immerse in metaverse through design remains unresolved. This study explores how metaverse can be better designed to improve its transcendence and naturalness for motivating individuals to escape into metaverse using a mixed-method approach. A qualitative study is conducted first to identify the design features of metaverse that can motivate the escapism of individuals. A quantitative study is then followed to explore the interplay between the design features, naturalness, transcendence, and escapism based on structural equation modeling of the survey data. The study discovers that dependability, spatial presence, and interaction intuitiveness are the essential features of naturalness, and graphic aesthetics is associated with transcendence. It reveals that naturalness enhances transcendence, which in turn increases escapism, with transcendence partially mediating this relationship. These findings offer practical guidelines for the development of metaverse and its use in society.