Social acceptability of Virtual Reality Interaction: Experiential factors and design implications

Virtual Reality (VR) has been the hot topic of discussion over the past couple of years. A major part of the interest in VR comes from the fact that the technological aspects of VR has grown dramatically and today there are lots of choices for VR users based on their budget ranging from cardboard VR requiring mobile devices all the way to high end VR devices requiring high end computers. When the user wears the VR device and the headphones, he or she is separated from the real world and can no longer see, hear, or interact with anyone else present in the same context. When the context is public and there are other people around, the separation can be problematic. Added to the separation, the user interacts with the system using a form of motion controller for input coupled with head movements to look around the virtual world. This brings forth the point of questioning the social acceptability of virtual reality and the need to identify influential experiential factors from the perspective of those using the VR in public context and the others present in the same context. To answer the research questions, a series of field tests were conducted with users in the public context of a university. The empirical research of this thesis consists of inter-views, surveys, and observations, including both qualitative and quantitative data from the users and spectators in addition to three co-creation sessions with user experience experts to identify key design principles. The empirical findings of this thesis suggest that it is socially acceptable to use VR de-vices in a public context of a university and a majority of users and spectators do not find it as awkward or rude to use the technology. Additionally, while it may feel a little out of place, once a user starts the VR experience, he or she will forget about the others present and will start to enjoy the sense of being in a virtual location while in the same place as others. Based on the findings, the most important experiential factors from the perspective of users are identified as freedom of interaction, uninterruptable immersion, un-intrusive communication, freedom to switch realities, a sense of safety, a sense of pri-vacy, having a shared experience, and a sense of belonging. From the perspective of the spectators a shared experience, enticing their curiosity, providing relevant experiences, being a norm, and a sense of privacy are found as the influential factors. Finally, a set of design principles with 11 distinct items across six sections of content, interaction, safety, privacy, communication, and connectedness are identified. The insights of this thesis can be used in the future as a reference point for creating so-cially acceptable VR experiences and understanding the most important factors from the perspective of VR users as well as others present in the context