The Virtual Reality (VR) industry has experienced growth in recent years with companies such as HTC, Meta, and Valve releasing more consumer-grade headsets. While certain companies such as Meta are pushing for more productivity focused applications of VR, VR remains a primary target for games. Locomotion is still a fundamental problem in games and other applications. Over the years, many researchers have examined application-agnostic and domain-specific techniques. However, few studies have been conducted on techniques specific for the environments and challenges found in first-person games. This thesis contributes with the design and evaluation of new locomotion techniques for VR games. We conducted a user study with 27 participants to evaluate one novel techniques (Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports (RSRT)), a node-based technique (Continuous Movement Pads (CMP)), and a grabbing metaphor (World Grab) with popular techniques (Smooth Locomotion, Teleport). Most preferred by participants, we found that CMP could be a suitable alternative for games compared to Smooth Locomotion and Teleport based on performance data such as time, damage taken, overall usability from System Usability Scale Questionnaires, and overall workload measured from the NASA Task-Load Index Questionnaire. We also found that RSRT and World Grab were least preferred overall and performed measurably worse in terms of time, number of falls in a section designed to measure precision and accuracy, usability, and overall workload. / Master of Science / The Virtual Reality (VR) industry has experienced growth in recent years with companies such as HTC, Meta, and Valve releasing more consumer-grade headsets. While certain companies such as Meta are pushing for more productivity focused applications of VR, VR remains a primary target for games. Locomotion or movement within VR is a problem that does not just have one answer. There are many ways to move around in VR, with many researchers having examined the topic. This thesis explores the different methods of VR locomotion and provides information about a user study conducted regarding several novel techniques. We conducted a user study with 27 participants to evaluate one novel techniques (Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports), a node-based technique (Continuous Movement Pads), and a method (World Grab) based on a metaphor for moving in VR with more traditional techniques (Smooth Locomotion, Teleport). Based on the results of the study, we found that Continuous Movement Pads could be a suitable alternative for games compared to Smooth Locomotion and Teleport based on performance data and qualitative analysis of participants' preferences. However, we also found that Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports and World Grab were least preferred overall.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/113532 |
| Date | 26 January 2023 |
| Creators | Moore, Cameron Alexander |
| Contributors | Computer Science and Applications, Santos Lages, Wallace, Bowman, Douglas A., Gracanin, Denis |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Rights | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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