Our visit at the VR Headquarter in Hamburg
Even before the official opening, the team of VRHQ was happy to welcome us. We were able to immerse ourselves into different VR worlds: stepping into a 360° gondola flying over Hamburg, riding a roller coaster, playing a multiplayer game called “Tower Tag,” and (my personal favorite) attending a virtual concert which can also be attended simultaneously by other people, such as your friends. The concert additionally provided another layer of experience, by allowing people to draw shapes with their hands with light pens while listening to music.
We were also able to get insights into the development process of VR environments. It was interesting to see which methods were used to build VR worlds, e.g. 3D photo scans of real rooms, and how developers actually test their interfaces. It is common for developers to test their VR applications themselves and to forego testing with actual representatives of the indicated user group. Apparently, user testing has not yet become standard in the world of VR development. Just as it took quite some time for web developers to realize that it is not always sufficient to ask a few friends or colleagues for their opinion on their work, user testing is still in its infancy for VR. This is especially true for professional applications, e.g., medical training, where feedback from the users will prove invaluable.
Research for VR applications and it’s challenges
However, having developers realize the value of user testing is not the only challenge. There are also some very practical obstacles. While these have been solved for ‘classical’ tests on a PC or a smartphone, there are new and interesting challenges when doing research for VR applications, such as:
- 2D video recordings or screenshots might not be sufficient to capture the full experience of participants.
- Interacting with the participants or asking questions can be tough when they are fully immersed in a virtual world. For example, the moderator cannot just grab the mouse to point something out on the screen.
- Results can be biased by participants being totally amazed by their (first) VR-experience.