[Eng] VR UX 9. Immersion and Presence

"Immersion" and "Presence" are two crucial concepts that shape the essence of virtual reality experiences.

 

1. Immersion:

Immersion refers to the degree to which a VR system and application make the user feel as if they are part of the virtual environment. Simply put, it's how realistic the VR experience feels and how well it stimulates our senses. For example, if you can see trees, hear birds, and feel the wind in a VR world and it feels like you're actually there, that's high immersion. Environments with high immersion are usually very vivid visually and allow users to interact with the surroundings. Immersion involves stimulating sight, sound, and other senses to make you feel as if you are genuinely present in that place.

 

UX Design Consultant Frank Spillers explains that immersion in VR indicates how deeply users are drawn into the experience. For instance, AR and MR provide less immersion because they do not completely immerse users due to the necessity for interaction with real-world elements like vehicles and people, which is crucial for safety reasons. VR provides much deeper immersion, and now we have community-level immersion in environments termed 'social VR'.

 

Consider the example of developing a mouse hole in VR. There's a mouse peeking out of the hole. Think about how immersive you want this experience to be. If you're representing a cat, you might want to lure the user towards the mouse hole. However, for pest control training, you might not want to explore the detailed interiors of the mouse's dwelling. Presence is about whether you feel like you're genuinely there as a mouse, or if it feels like you're just observing from a distance.

 

Important elements of immersive design include:

• Sensory Stimulation: Visual, auditory, and tactile feedback can enhance immersion. For instance, beautiful graphics, vivid soundtracks, and realistic haptic feedback can deeply engage users in the virtual environment.
• Interaction: Providing opportunities for users to actively interact with the virtual environment helps deepen immersion.
• Realism and Detail: Paying attention to visual detail, textures, and environmental cues can make users forget reality and become more immersed.

 

2. Presence:

Presence is the subjective experience of being in the virtual world as if you are actually there, psychologically and emotionally connected to the environment.

 

To design for presence, consider:

• Control and Agency: Ensuring that users feel they can control and lead their actions within the VR experience enhances the sense of presence.
• Credibility: Designing believable characters, objects, and scenarios helps users connect mentally and emotionally with the environment.
• Social Presence: Including elements like avatars and multiplayer functions that facilitate social interactions within VR can enhance presence.

3. Agency:

Simply put, 'agency' in VR refers to the level of control and influence users feel they have within the virtual environment. In VR, users can have a higher level of agency compared to traditional media. They can manipulate objects, explore environments, and create their own narratives.

 

Agency involves considering how much 'god-like power' to give users. For instance, do you allow users to control the entire environment or just certain aspects of it? This global vs. local control can significantly affect the flow of the experience.

 

Maximizing Immersion and Presence:

• Visual Realism: High-quality graphics, realistic textures, and detailed environments enhance the connection to the virtual world.
• Spatial Audio: Sound is a powerful tool for strengthening presence. Using spatial audio technology to position and move sounds in 3D space makes the environment feel more real and engaging.
• Interaction and Control: Intuitive and responsive controls that mimic real-world interactions help users engage more naturally with the VR experience.
• Narrative and Engagement: A compelling storyline or meaningful goals enhance immersion and presence by captivating users and providing a context that elicits emotional responses and sustained engagement.
• Balance of Realism and Safety: Always ensure user safety. Balance immersive experiences with awareness of real-world dangers, such as providing visual and auditory signals in a VR car racing simulation to alert users of oncoming traffic, maintaining immersion while enhancing safety.

 

 

“What Is ‘Presence’ in VR, and Why Is it So Important?”

 

"Presence" in Virtual Reality (VR) refers to the feeling of being physically present in a space different from your actual location. This sensation is the core of what makes modern VR experiences feel real and immersive. Achieving a strong sense of presence within VR has been a challenging yet crucial goal, as it significantly enhances the user's engagement and the overall effectiveness of the VR experience.

The feeling of presence is not simply about deceiving the senses; rather, it involves convincing the user's brain at a subconscious level that they are somewhere else. When VR successfully achieves this, users often stop consciously questioning the reality of what they are experiencing and begin to interact with the virtual environment as if it were real.

How VR Achieves Presence:

1. Tracking and Latency: VR systems must accurately track the user's movements in all directions (6 degrees of freedom) and reflect those movements in the virtual environment with minimal delay. John Carmack suggests that achieving a motion-to-photon latency of less than 20 milliseconds is crucial for maintaining presence. This ensures that the virtual environment responds to user movements almost instantaneously, preventing disorientation or motion sickness.
2. Image Quality and Refresh Rate: While high-resolution graphics are beneficial, the stability and persistence of the image are more critical for presence. A stable image without jitter and a low-persistence display help in reducing motion blur, making the virtual environment more solid and believable. Refresh rates of at least 90Hz are necessary to maintain the illusion of continuous, smooth motion.
3. Field of View: A wider field of view (at least 90 degrees) helps cover the user's peripheral vision, contributing to a more enveloping experience. This is important because a narrow field of view can remind users that they are looking at a screen, thereby breaking the sense of presence.
4. Multi-sensory Input: Enhancing other sensory inputs like haptic feedback, and potentially integrating smell and taste, can deepen the sense of presence. These additions help mimic the complexity of real-world experiences more closely.

Challenges and Future Directions:

Despite significant advancements in technology, achieving and maintaining presence in VR remains a persistent challenge. Future developments could include better haptic feedback systems, less obtrusive headsets, and expanded sensory inputs to enrich the VR experience further. The goal is to make VR as close to real-life as possible, not only visually but across all senses, enhancing the overall realism and user immersion.