Mission Climbossible : A study ofimmersive vertical locomotion inimpossible spaces for virtual reality

Abstract: In recent years, the edges between reality and virtual reality have been further smudged as today’s software and hardware allows for wireless immersive experiences. In an attempt to solve locomotion as the last piece of the puzzle of perfecting immersive virtual realities, impossible spaces have been developed to support natural locomotion. This in-between subject study investigated the effects of the combination of climbing and free walking on immersion in an impossible space environment with 20 participants. Users tended to greatly underestimate the distance climbed (which contradicts a previous study), concentrate, lose track of time, describe their experience more positively and differently than the controls group. Signs of spatial, emotional, cognitive and tactical immersion were shown in aspects of concentration, time, feelings of freedom, narrative, presence, safety, mental stimulation and locomotion user strategies to name a few. Minimal cues may have been present while future studies might fully confirm and define the immersive potential of vertical locomotion in impossible spaces.