Usage of Virtual User Manuals for Increasing Knowledge About Emergency Procedures: Case Study of North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Emergency procedures are an important domain for safety education. Modern multimedia technologies aim to aid this process by replacing real‐life drills and hazard procedures with virtual simulations. However, there is a limited amount of existing research on this topic, especially focusing on the Western Balkans region. This paper presents a 3D virtual learning environment for emergency procedures in the form of a serious game. The virtual user manual uses the 2D fire evacuation plan of a university building in Ohrid, North Macedonia, for teaching civilians about multiple emergency procedures emergency exits, fire alarms, fire extinguishers, and wall hydrants. A case study was performed on 90 participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia. Four different scenarios of interest were utilized, general knowledge about emergency procedures, emergency exit simulation, virtual user manual simulation, and emergency procedures involving a cultural heritage site. The achieved results indicate that participants are open to the usage of modern multimedia technologies, that familiarity with the presented location affects the success of learning, and that there is a strong potential for successful usage of virtual user manuals in the region of the Western Balkans in the future.