Outstanding: A Perspective-Switching Technique for Covering Large Distances in VR Games

Room-scale virtual reality games allow players to experience an unmatched level of presence. A major reason is the natural navigation provided by physical walking. However, the tracking space is still limited, and viable alternatives or extensions are required to reach further virtual destinations. Our current work focuses on traveling over (very) large distances--an area where approaches such as teleportation are too exhausting and WIM teleportations potentially reduce presence. Our idea is to equip players with the ability to switch from first-person to a third-person god-mode perspective on demand. From above, players can command their avatar similar to a real-time strategy game and initiate travels over large distance. In our first exploratory evaluation, we learned that the proposed dynamic switching is intuitive, increases spatial orientation, and allows players to maintain a high degree of presence throughout the game. Based on the outcomes of a participatory design workshop, we also propose a set of extensions to our technique that should be considered in the future.