An Analysis of Longitudinal Trends in Consumer Thoughts on Presence and Simulator Sickness in VR Games

Abstract

Since the release of the Oculus Rift CV1 in 2016, millions of VR headsets have found their way into consumer homes. In this paper, we sought to understand what shifts have taken place within the two years since consumer VR became available. In this paper, we consider what can be learned about long-term use of consumer VR through an analysis of discussions in online forums devoted to VR. We gathered posts made on the /r/Vive subreddit from the first two years after the HTC Vive's release. We present the results from an in-depth qualitative analysis concerning immersion, presence, and simulator sickness. Over time, as users moved from passive to active, their attitudes and expectations towards immersion and simulator sickness matured. Major trends of interest found were game design implementation and locomotion techniques.