OpenSimulator
Some researchers in tourism services have successfully applied information technology to assist their studies of the assessment of tourists of their experience (Gretzel 2011; Johnson and Sieber 2011; Yang et al. 2009). Information systems are powerful tools in developing decision-making support systems, conducting observation, collecting data, and developing simulations. However, as tourist experience involves abundant physical and emotional interactions between tourists and tourism spaces, the present study needs to develop a thorough and efficient method of studying the behavioral patterns of tourists, especially their dynamic, emotional, and sometimes, irrational decision-making. The recent trend of applying VEs in assessing user experience solves such a problem by providing assistance in creating and controlling interactive and real-world-like environments (Rebelo et al. 2012). Hence, to deepen our understanding of the assessment of tourists of their experience and to examine the contrast bias, the present study proposes the application of VEs, i.e., artificial but real tourism destination-like, and the use of participatory simulations to observe the assessment tourists of their experience.
OpenSimulator was chosen as the platform to construct our VEs because of the following reasons (Fishwick and Henderson 2008):