[Eng] VR UX 17. Comfort & Safety

To create a comfortable VR experience, there are several considerations we should keep in mind:

1. User Comfort Settings: Offer adjustable settings for factors like effects, movement speed, and stationary mode to cater to users' preferences.
2. Movement and Locomotion: Ensure smooth and natural movements to reduce motion sickness. Provide options for different locomotion styles to accommodate user preferences.
3. Frame Rate and Performance: Maintain a high and consistent frame rate to prevent motion sickness. Optimize graphics and animations for smooth performance.
4. Field of View (FoV): Optimize FoV to match human peripheral vision and avoid strain or discomfort.
5. Interactions and Controls: Design intuitive interactions and ergonomic controls to minimize discomfort.
6. User Interface (UI): Create easy-to-read UI elements and avoid clutter to prevent eye strain.
7. Visual Comfort: Use balanced color palettes and minimize flickering or glare to prevent eye strain.
8. Audio Design: Implement spatial audio cues to enhance presence without overwhelming users.
9. Content Length: Offer breaks or design shorter experiences to prevent fatigue.
10. Physical Comfort: Consider headset comfort, adjustability, weight, padding, and ventilation to prevent discomfort during use.
11. Accessibility: Design with accessibility in mind, including options for subtitles, audio descriptions, and alternative interactions.
12. User Testing and Feedback: Conduct thorough user testing and incorporate feedback to refine the experience.

Safety is a paramount consideration in virtual reality (VR) experiences. Even just interacting with a VR headset for five minutes allows researchers to accurately discern users' identities. Users' physical movements and behaviors can be observed and categorized within minutes, with VR systems capable of collecting an extensive array of non-verbal body language data points, totaling up to two million after just 20 minutes of use. This means that a person's identity can essentially be confirmed through their movements alone, and when combined with facial features, eyes, and other factors, it creates a comprehensive fingerprint of an individual. However, this raises significant privacy concerns, among many other issues.

 

In 2018, Oculus (Meta's research team and headset hardware group) conducted their own research and published a series of guidelines available on the Meta website. They classified three aspects to consider in VR: linguistic, physical, and spatial. These aspects encompass various facets of the user experience, corresponding to hearing, feeling, and seeing.

• Linguistic Aspect: This refers to verbal threats users may encounter in virtual environments, such as personal insults or derogatory language from other users.
• Physical Aspect: This involves unwanted physical contact, such as inappropriate touching from other users.
• Spatial Aspect: This pertains to visual threats, like the display of sexual or violent content that users may find disturbing or offensive.

Research indicates that these issues are inherent in VR environments and can lead to harassment, bullying, or threats against users. Therefore, it's imperative to address these concerns and implement measures to protect users, particularly in social VR experiences.

 

One crucial consideration in social VR experiences is ensuring that users' avatars are treated with respect and that users' sense of bodily autonomy is preserved. The "social body" encompasses interactions wherein users may experience ostracization or harassment, such as being the target of gossip or being ignored. The "emotional body" relates to users' expression and experience of emotions. To address these aspects, we need to foster a culture of safety and inclusivity in VR, reflective of the diversity found in real life.

 

To ensure user safety, we should consider the following approaches:

1. Education and Awareness: Inform users about potential risks and provide tutorials on safe practices.
2. Clear Community Guidelines: Establish guidelines for expected behavior and explicitly prohibit harassment and discrimination.
3. Privacy Controls: Empower users with customizable privacy settings.
4. Personal Space Settings: Implement settings to establish boundaries between users.
5. Reporting Mechanisms: Integrate user-friendly reporting tools for instances of harassment.
6. User Empowerment: Provide tools for users to control interactions and block or mute others.
7. Moderation and Monitoring: Use AI-driven algorithms to identify and intervene in instances of harassment.
8. Cultural Sensitivity: Design experiences that respect diverse cultural norms.
9. User Feedback: Encourage users to share experiences and concerns to inform improvements.
10. Safe Spaces: Design designated safe spaces within the VR environment.