Evolutionary Games: Use VR games to enhanceusers’understanding ofevolution and cultivate interest inbiological knowledge

This study presents the design and evaluation of Evolutionary Games, a VR system that leverages embodied interaction to support conceptual understanding of core evolutionary mechanisms. The system maps processes such as natural selection, adaptation, and extinction onto sensorimotor tasks, enabling users to control ancient organisms across six reconstructed Paleozoic environments. Physics-based interactions, spatial audio, and multimodal haptic cues situate learning within real-time ecological constraints and highlight how agency and movement shape conceptual reasoning. A mixed-methods study with 45 participants showed significant improvements in evolutionary knowledge compared with traditional instruction. Participants reported high usability, strong perceived learning value, and increased clarity in explaining evolutionary dynamics. Qualitative feedback further indicated that embodied action improved mechanistic understanding and supported intuitive sense-making. The results demonstrate that immersive VR can augment conceptual learning by tightly coupling ecological dynamics with user-controlled sensorimotor input, offering implications for the design of educational systems and augmented human experiences.

Recommended citation: Yibo Meng, Jingjie Wang, Tianyi Xiao, Zhiming Liu, Bingyi Liu, Qiuyu Long, Junyi Liu, Nan Gao. (2026). Evolutionary Games: Use VR games to enhanceusers’understanding ofevolution and cultivate interest inbiological knowledge. In In The Augmented Humans International Conference 2026 (AHs 2026).
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