A Study on Improving the Usability of Metaverse Spaces through Analysis of UX Design in Gather Town: Hallym University Medical Center Metaverse Children's Burn Hospital Counseling Room

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the medical field has actively attempted non-face-to-face transformations, and the use of the metaverse has attracted attention in this regard. In this study, we investigated and analyzed the user experience (UX) characteristics and inconveniences that appear in the service objects inside a counseling room at the Hallym University Medical Center's Metaverse Children's Burn Hospital, which was launched on the Gathertown metaverse platform. UX improvement of this hospital is expected to benefit other hospitals as well as non-face-to-face treatments that will eventually be launched in the Metaverse. We first analyzed the non-face-to-face treatment services on the Gathertown metaverse platform based on the techniques reported in the literature and using some examples. Second, the usability of the service object in the counseling room was analyzed via tests. Third, a major analysis was conducted on the UX of the service object. Fourth, a UX design of the service object was proposed, and its usability was evaluated. By analyzing the data collected, the design direction was derived based on three keywords: Object connectivity, object unity, object visibility. Based on these keywords, the object placement and graphic design direction were set to improve the UX of the service object within the counseling room. To better utilize the metaverse platform in non-face-to-face treatments, investigation of other service objects will be conducted as a follow-up study.