Facilitating asymmetric collaborative navigation in room-scale virtual reality for public spaces

Abstract

This study investigates asymmetric collaboration in public room-scale Virtual Reality (VR) setups to address the isolating experience provided by single-user Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs). In our field study, participants wearing an HMD had to find their way in a virtual maze with the help of co-located participants without an HMD. The non-HMD participants could either see a mirrored HMD view, a map of the maze, or a combination of the two. We evaluated which of these three conditions facilitates more collaboration and engagement for the non-HMD participants and spectators, as well as the HMD participants. Our findings can be used when facilitating engaging asymmetric experiences for public VR setups.