gEYEded: Subtle and Challenging Gaze-Based Player Guidance in Exploration Games

This paper investigates the effects of gaze-based player guidance on the perceived game experience, performance, and challenge in a first-person exploration game. In contrast to existing research, the proposed approach takes the game context into account by providing players not only with guidance but also granting them an engaging game experience with a focus on exploration. This is achieved by incorporating gaze-sensitive areas that indicate the location of relevant game objects. A comparative study was carried out to validate our concept and to examine if a game supported with a gaze guidance feature triggers a more immersive game experience in comparison to a crosshair guidance version and a solution without any guidance support. In general, our study findings reveal a more positive impact of the gaze-based guidance approach on the experience and performance in comparison to the other two conditions. However, subjects had a similar impression concerning the game challenge in all conditions

Empirical Comparisons of Virtual Environment Displays

There are many different visual display devices used in virtual environment (VE) systems. These displays vary along many dimensions, such as resolution, field of view, level of immersion, quality of stereo, and so on. In general, no guidelines exist to choose an appropriate display for a particular VE application. Our goal in this work is to develop such guidelines on the basis of empirical results. We present two initial experiments comparing head-mounted displays with a workbench display and a foursided spatially immersive display. The results indicate that the physical characteristics of the displays, users' prior experiences, and even the order in which the displays are presented can have significant effects on performance

Evaluation of user response by using visual cues designed to direct the viewer's attention to the main scene in an immersive environment

Today the visualization of 360-degree videos has become a means to live immersive experiences.. However, an important challenge to overcome is how to guide the viewers attention to the video main scene, without interrupting the immersion experience and the narrative thread. To meet this challenge, we have developed a software prototype to assess three approaches: Arrows, Radar and Auto Focus. These are based on visual guidance cues used in first person shooter games such as: Radar-Sonar, Radar-Compass and Arrows. In the study a questionnaire was made to evaluate the comprehension of the narrative, the user's perspective with respect to the design of the visual cues and the usability of the system. In addition, data was collected on the movement of the user's head, in order to analyze the focus of attention. The study used statistical methods to perform the analysis, the results show that the participants who used some visual cue (any of these) showed significant improvements compared to the control group (without using visual cues) in finding the main scene. With respect to narrative compression, significant improvements were obtained in the user group that used Radar and Auto Focus compared to the control group

Designing Map-Based Visual Storytelling for News Articles in Mixed Reality

This study investigates how we can design map-based visual storytelling of news articles for Mixed Reality Head-Mounted Displays (MR HMDs). It explores the significance of visual storytelling genres and interactive gestures in the design. The findings reveal that principles of storytelling and interaction cannot be directly transferred from traditional PC interfaces to MR HMDs due to fundamental differences in interface and interaction. The study highlights the effectiveness of the dynamic slideshow format and far-interaction in enhancing the storytelling experience. Participants favored hand interactions but expressed interest in alternative methods such as gaze- and voice-based interactions. The challenges faced during the project, including recruitment difficulties, testing environment limitations, and technical issues, influenced the findings. The study emphasizes the need for tailored design principles for MR storytelling and multiple interaction methods to cater to user preferences. Overall, the findings provide valuable insights into designing map-based interactions in MR for visual storytelling, with consideration for the encountered challenges and limitations.Masteroppgave i medie- og interaksjonsdesignMIX350MASV-MI

LoCoMoTe – a framework for classification of natural locomotion in VR by task, technique and modality

Virtual reality (VR) research has provided overviews of locomotion techniques, how they work, their strengths and overall user experience. Considerable research has investigated new methodologies, particularly machine learning to develop redirection algorithms. To best support the development of redirection algorithms through machine learning, we must understand how best to replicate human navigation and behaviour in VR, which can be supported by the accumulation of results produced through live-user experiments. However, it can be difficult to identify, select and compare relevant research without a pre-existing framework in an ever-growing research field. Therefore, this work aimed to facilitate the ongoing structuring and comparison of the VR-based natural walking literature by providing a standardised framework for researchers to utilise. We applied thematic analysis to study methodology descriptions from 140 VR-based papers that contained live-user experiments. From this analysis, we developed the LoCoMoTe framework with three themes: navigational decisions, technique implementation, and modalities. The LoCoMoTe framework provides a standardised approach to structuring and comparing experimental conditions. The framework should be continually updated to categorise and systematise knowledge and aid in identifying research gaps and discussions

Influence of Directional Sound Cues on Users'' Exploration across 360° Movie Cuts

Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful medium for 360° 360 storytelling, yet content creators are still in the process of developing cinematographic rules for effectively communicating stories in VR. Traditional cinematography has relied for over a century on well-established techniques for editing, and one of the most recurrent resources for this are cinematic cuts that allow content creators to seamlessly transition between scenes. One fundamental assumption of these techniques is that the content creator can control the camera; however, this assumption breaks in VR: Users are free to explore 360° 360 around them. Recent works have studied the effectiveness of different cuts in 360° 360 content, but the effect of directional sound cues while experiencing these cuts has been less explored. In this work, we provide the first systematic analysis of the influence of directional sound cues in users'' behavior across 360° 360 movie cuts, providing insights that can have an impact on deriving conventions for VR storytelling. © 1981-2012 IEEE

Multimodality in {VR}: {A} Survey

Virtual reality has the potential to change the way we create and consume content in our everyday life. Entertainment, training, design and manufacturing, communication, or advertising are all applications that already benefit from this new medium reaching consumer level. VR is inherently different from traditional media: it offers a more immersive experience, and has the ability to elicit a sense of presence through the place and plausibility illusions. It also gives the user unprecedented capabilities to explore their environment, in contrast with traditional media. In VR, like in the real world, users integrate the multimodal sensory information they receive to create a unified perception of the virtual world. Therefore, the sensory cues that are available in a virtual environment can be leveraged to enhance the final experience. This may include increasing realism, or the sense of presence; predicting or guiding the attention of the user through the experience; or increasing their performance if the experience involves the completion of certain tasks. In this state-of-the-art report, we survey the body of work addressing multimodality in virtual reality, its role and benefits in the final user experience. The works here reviewed thus encompass several fields of research, including computer graphics, human computer interaction, or psychology and perception. Additionally, we give an overview of different applications that leverage multimodal input in areas such as medicine, training and education, or entertainment; we include works in which the integration of multiple sensory information yields significant improvements, demonstrating how multimodality can play a fundamental role in the way VR systems are designed, and VR experiences created and consumed