Effects of Menu Systems, Interaction Methods, and Posture on User Experience in Virtual Reality

Abstract: Background. In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as an important technology in both commercial and industrial use. This has prompted large investments from large corporations, and some have even shifted their focus toward this new rising technology. With the oncoming of this tech as mainstream, emphasis has been put on the content itself, while the surrounding user experiences of the UIsand the interaction methods in the VR environment have been put aside. Objectives. The objectives of this thesis are to explore different menu systems together with interaction methods while also evaluating their effect of them and the posture of the user on user experience and simulator sickness in VR applications. Data collected could provide good observations for how menus and interaction methods together with posture can be best designed for VR applications. Methods. A VR application with two different menu systems, and two different interaction methods were implemented, and a survey based on the System UsabilityScale (SUS), After-Scenario Questionnaire (ASQ), and Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) was created. These questionnaires answer matters relating to user experience and cybersickness and were chosen for their ease of use in addition to being used in similar works. Together these formed the basis for an experiment which was carried out with 20 participants. The study measured the differences in user experience, time taken, and simulator sickness for the different combinations of controls, menus, and postures. Results. Results show that there are significant differences depending on the controls, menu systems, and posture in both user experience and simulator sickness. The study showed that participants reported fewer simulator sickness symptoms when seated and that the overall best control and menu combination was a traditional panel menu together with motion controls. Conclusions. Among the options explored in the study, traditional, top-down, panel menus together with motion controls form the best combination in regard to the user experience in VR applications. A sitting posture provides the overall best environment in VR applications in regard to less severe simulator sickness symptoms