Quality of user experience is a fundamental issue with Virtual Reality. From the survey, several people pointed out that using a VR headset didn’t seem ”real enough”. In order to make the experience seem more real, the field of view needs to be large enough, there should be no delays, no lagging, the resolution needs to be great and the headset need to be able to track your exact movements.
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The field of view is an issue that is more or less resolved. The field of view of most VR headsets is now around 100 degree [12]. Even though humans have a binocular view of about 180 degree, it is enough with 100 degree to feel immersed. Lagging and insufficient resolution are problems that are constantly improving, but the bigger the videos are, the more complex it is to resolve this issue. Both stationary 360-images and video can be implemented to use with VR headset, but video is much more complex than a single image. The video usually requires a lot more processing power as well as a stable and fast internet connection.
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One of the biggest problems is that the headsets currently only track three out of the six degrees of freedom that humans have. Currently, the VR headsets are able to track movements that goes up/down, right/left and back/forwards. This is a complex problem to solve. However, when the headsets are not able to track all the six possible movements, it can make you lose some of the feeling of immersion. The six degrees of freedom is displayed in the figure below.
Issues and Challenges
When the displayed content comes with delay, the experience doesnt seem very real to the user. However, this is not the only problem that delay introduces. When there is delay, it can make the user feel discomfort such as dizziness or headaches. The ’Oculus Rift’ VR glasses comes with health and safety warnings where they warn about these issues as well as advising that children under the age of 13 should not be using the product. It says that adults should monitor children above 13 years while they use the product and also limit the use and make sure the children take frequent breaks [14]. This is specified for children, but it can also be useful for adults to follow these advice.
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It is not only the delay that can make people feel discomfort when using the VR headsets. Doug Magyari, CEO of a VR headset production incorporation, claims that: ”any head-worn device such as headsets, headphones or sunglasses should weigh less than 4 ounces, or they will become uncomfortable after wearing them for short periods of time” [15]. For the companies to develop VR glasses with a weight less than 4 ounces (100 grams), they still have a long way to go. For comparison, the most popular products on the market today, such as the Oculus Rift and the PlayStation VR weighs about 490g and 610g respectively [12].
At last, the challenge around price and making VR headsets a mainstream product is worth mentioning, even though it is a completely different type of challenge. The price tag of most VR headsets are currently very high. This makes it harder to sell to a mainstream market. In the survey, people answered what they were willing to pay for a pair of VR glasses, and the results can be seen in the figure below. From the figure, it becomes clear that only about 3% of the people are willing to pay more than 250 euros for the product.
The 6 degrees of freedom [13]
The results from the survey, when people where asked how much they were willing to pay for a VR headset
[13] goo.gl/osGyhK, accessed 28.11.2016 [14] goo.gl/BKBPtr, accessed 25.10.2016 [15] goo.gl/nAAMOS, accessed 25.10.2016