Evaluating the User experience of Mobile VR

Abstract

Durante décadas, los sistemas de realidad virtual (VR) han proporcionado experiencias de usuario únicas, inspirando a los investigadores a desarrollar métodos para evaluar las experiencias de los usuarios de la realidad virtual. Hasta hace poco, la realidad virtual estaba restringida a configuraciones conectadas en interiores; ahora, portátil. Los sistemas como Oculus Quest combinan una excelente inmersión con movilidad, lo que permite que la realidad virtual se mueva en espacios públicos y contextos impredecibles. Así como la aparición de la informática móvil basada en pantallas requirió el desarrollo de nuevos métodos de diseño y evaluación, por lo que la aparición de la realidad virtual móvil nos impulsa a considerar si los métodos de evaluación existentes deben ser aumentados. En este trabajo describimos nuestro método para evaluar la experiencia del usuario de una aplicación de realidad virtual que replica la inundación en la ciudad de Melbourne, Australia. Realizamos un estudio empírico con esta aplicación y un dispositivo VR móvil, y evaluamos la experiencia del usuario con una serie de métodos cualitativos y cuantitativos que son adecuados para estudios de campo.

For decades, Virtual Reality (VR) systems have provided unique user experiences, inspiring researchers to develop methods for assessing the user experience (UX) in VR. Until recently, VR was restricted to tethered con gurations; now, portable systems such as Oculus Quest combine excellent immersion with mobility, allowing VR to move into public spaces and unpredictable contexts. Just as the emergence of mobile screen-based computing required the development of new methods of design and evaluation, so the emergence of mobile VR prompts us to consider whether existing UX evaluation methods need to be augmented. UX in VR is commonly measured through questionnaires; however this approach is criticized for the reliability of its results. There have been several alternatives using other subjective and objective methods, but it is still unclear which could be the most suitable. This provided me with the opportunity to test the suitability of existing methods and to devise new ones that take advantage of the novel features of these mobile devices. For this research project, I investigated and used a combination of techniques to evaluate UX in mobile VR devices. The proposed method included questionnaires, a semi-structured interview, and observation techniques such as note-taking and a novel idea of interaction logging in VR. I validated this approach via an empirical study. I measured UX in a VR prototype that replicates ooding in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Our method could identify UX problems involving relevant UX components such as presence, immersion, usability, engagement, emotion, simulator sickness, ow, skill, technology adoption and judgement. My ndings also highlighted the importance of using qualitative and quantitative data together to measure UX in VR. I encourage the use of observation methods such as interaction logging and note-taking since they provided useful behavioural information to measure the UX of mobile VR.