Tenochtitlan - An Interactive Virtual Reality Environment that Encourages Museum Exhibit Engagement

With many cultural institutions experiencing declining visitor figures, a large number have begun introducing the use of engaging technologies to attract more visitors, the use of which seem especially appealing to the younger generations. Due to the steadily rising popularity of virtual reality, it is one of the more prominent technologies these institutions have incorporated. However, most uses of virtual reality result in small-scale exhibit recreations or immersive video with very little interaction. In this paper, we propose to create a large-scale virtual reality environment with an integrated interactive quiz system, which aims to offer an engagement level above that of traditional museum exhibits. Initial results of Tenochtitlan have been demonstrated positive. Participant interviews have shown that 87.5% experienced engagement levels in Tenochtitlan greater than that of a traditional museum exhibit, and 62.5% stated that their knowledge of the subject matter had increased.