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An Analysis of User Experiences regarding Presence within VR games

Tuesday, September 15, 2020 (Central Time) — 3:45PM - 4:30PM

The consumer virtual reality (VR) space has undergone massive transformation since the release of the Oculus Rift CV1 and HTC Vive in early 2016. Whereas VR was previously largely confined to laboratories and training facilities, millions of headsets are now used in homes for entertainment and other applications. A major consequence of the widespread availability of VR is that more people are experiencing VR, and for longer periods of time. When VR was confined to the laboratory, few people had the opportunity to spend any meaningful amount of time in VR. Now, it is not uncommon for users to spend hours in VR for weeks on end. As such, it is more important than ever that we understand how prolonged exposure to VR affects the people who use it. In the first study, we explored how user experiences changed when playing Minecraft on the desktop and in immersive virtual reality. In the second study, we sought to understand what shifts had taken place within the two years since consumer VR became available considering what can be learned about long-term use of consumer VR through an analysis of discussions in online forums devoted to VR. In a third study, we again examined data taken from /r/Vive subreddit forum posts to gain insights on what sorts of ``lingering effects’’ users reported having experienced after using VR, and on the progression of these effects over time. My final proposed study is intended to explore these collected themes by monitoring users’ frame by frame reactions to certain events that have the potential to affect their experience as it relates to presence within a single gaming session.

Presenter:
John Porter III