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PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Virtual Real.
Sec. Virtual Reality and Human Behaviour
Volume 5 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/frvir.2024.1434016
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring the Perceived Realism of XR Experiences: Unveiling the Impact of Cutting-Edge Simulation Tools and their Interplay with Human and Contextual Factors View all articles
A Holistic Quality Taxonomy for Virtual Reality Experiences
Provisionally accepted- 1 Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- 2 Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany
The rapid advancement of virtual reality (VR) technology has brought many immersive experiences, each designed to transport users into captivating virtual worlds. While these experiences aim to provide a sense of presence and engagement, the factors contributing to a truly immersive experience are often complex and multifaceted. Existing scholarship has predominantly focused on specific aspects of user experience, such as psychological factors (e.g., sense of presence), emotional factors (e.g., enjoyment), or design-related factors (e.g., interface usability). This fragmented approach has impeded a comprehensive understanding of the overall quality of VR experiences. To address this, we propose a multidimensional taxonomy encompassing five essential qualities: immersivity, interactivity, explorability, plausibility, and believability. The framework aims to disentangle the complex, interrelated facets shaping VR experiences for a more systematic evaluation. Immersivity refers to the subjective sense of presence and "being there" in a virtual environment. Interactivity denotes the ability to interact with virtual objects, promoting engagement dynamically. Explorability refers to users' freedom to navigate and discover new elements. Plausibility examines the logical congruence of the virtual environment's rules and behaviors. Finally, believability relates to the world-building and internal coherence of the VR world. This taxonomy provides a structured approach to look at VR experiences holistically, assessing the interplay of these facets to facilitate a more objective, comprehensive evaluation, capturing the multidimensional nature of VR experiences. In summary, our proposed taxonomy marks an essential step toward systematic VR evaluation, providing guidance for researchers and highlighting factors integral to VR quality.
Keywords: Virtual reality (VR), User Experience, quality of experience (QoE), presence, Immersion, Authenticity, plausibility, Quality Modeling & Assessment
Received: 16 May 2024; Accepted: 13 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Hameed, Möller and Perkis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Asim Hameed, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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