Article

Designing Inclusive Virtual Reality Experiences

Authors:

Matt Dombrowski,

Peter A. Smith,

John SparkmanAuthors Info & Claims

Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality. Multimodal Interaction: 11th International Conference, VAMR 2019, Held as Part of the 21st HCI International Conference, HCII 2019, Orlando, FL, USA, July 26–31, 2019, Proceedings, Part I

Pages 33 - 43

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21607-8_3

Published: 26 July 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Virtual Reality experiences are often touted as having the most immersive user experience possible outside of live action, yet Virtual Reality (VR) technology is often not designed to be inclusive to all users. From mild sim sickness effects to a lack of accessible controls, many users are being left out from the modern virtual reality experience. There are however tools available to the developer that will make inclusive VR design a possibility.

While many of the tools for inclusive VR experiences are physical hardware-based solution there are also what Doug Church describes as “Formal Abstract Design Tools” that are conceptual tools that can be applied in this case to allow a designer to think through making their experience design inclusive [1]. The goals of this journal paper are to provide a primer for those approaching inclusive game design. The researchers will cite current research, discuss existing accessibility forward technologies, and highlight areas that need more attention to assure a more inclusive VR experience.

References

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Dombrowski M, Buyssens R, and Smith PA Chen JYC and Fragomeni G Virtual reality training to enhance motor skills Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Interaction, Navigation, Visualization, Embodiment, and Simulation 2018 Cham Springer 393-402

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United States Department of Justice Civil Right Division: Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (2018). www.ada.gov

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Story, M.F.: Principles of Universal Design. Universal Design Handbook (2001)

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Ellis, B.: Game Accessibility Guidelines (2016). http://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/basic/

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Center for Disease Control: 1 in 4 US adults live with a disability. Center for Deseas Control Newsroom (2018). https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/p0816-disability.html

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https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/popcap-games-research-publisher-s-latest-survey-says-that-casual-games-are-big-with-disabled-people

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Wing, C.: Around 92% of people with impairments play games despite difficulties. Game Accessibility (2015). https://www.game-accessibility.com/documentation/around-92-of-people-with-impairments-play-games-despite-difficulties/

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Smith, P.A., Dombrowski, M., Hassan, M., Knight, K., Stevens, K.: The importance of good user experience design for mobility accessibility across the spectrum. Electronic Arts (EA) Game UX Summit 2018, Vancouver, Canada (2019)

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Able Gamers Foundation: Accessible Player Experiences (APX). Accessible. Games (2018). https://accessible.games/accessible-player-experiences/

Cited By

Li JCrilly NKristensson P(2024)Guiding the Design of Inclusive Interactive Systems: Do Younger and Older Adults Use the Same Image-schematic Metaphors?ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/364861831:4(1-44)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3648618
Dudley JYin LGaraj VKristensson P(2023)Inclusive Immersion: a review of efforts to improve accessibility in virtual reality, augmented reality and the metaverseVirtual Reality10.1007/s10055-023-00850-827:4(2989-3020)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10055-023-00850-8
Reyes ZFisher J(2022)The Impacts of Virtual Reality Avatar Creation and Embodiment on Transgender and Genderqueer Individuals in GamesProceedings of the 17th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games10.1145/3555858.3555882(1-9)Online publication date: 5-Sep-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3555858.3555882
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Published In

cover image Guide Proceedings

Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality. Multimodal Interaction: 11th International Conference, VAMR 2019, Held as Part of the 21st HCI International Conference, HCII 2019, Orlando, FL, USA, July 26–31, 2019, Proceedings, Part I

Jul 2019

499 pages

ISBN:978-3-030-21606-1

DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-21607-8

Editors:
Jessie Y.C. Chen
US Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA
,
Gino Fragomeni
US Army Research Laboratory, Orlando, FL, USA

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.

Publisher

Springer-Verlag

Berlin, Heidelberg

Publication History

Published: 26 July 2019

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Cited By

Li JCrilly NKristensson P(2024)Guiding the Design of Inclusive Interactive Systems: Do Younger and Older Adults Use the Same Image-schematic Metaphors?ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/364861831:4(1-44)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3648618
Dudley JYin LGaraj VKristensson P(2023)Inclusive Immersion: a review of efforts to improve accessibility in virtual reality, augmented reality and the metaverseVirtual Reality10.1007/s10055-023-00850-827:4(2989-3020)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10055-023-00850-8
Reyes ZFisher J(2022)The Impacts of Virtual Reality Avatar Creation and Embodiment on Transgender and Genderqueer Individuals in GamesProceedings of the 17th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games10.1145/3555858.3555882(1-9)Online publication date: 5-Sep-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3555858.3555882
Jin QLiu YYarosh SHan BQian F(2022)How Will VR Enter University Classrooms? Multi-stakeholders Investigation of VR in Higher EducationProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3517542(1-17)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491102.3517542
Kamal AAndujar C(2021)A platform for developing and fine tuning adaptive 3D navigation techniques for the immersive webProceedings of the 26th International Conference on 3D Web Technology10.1145/3485444.3487643(1-6)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3485444.3487643
Nguyen NNguyen VDang T(2021)Color blind: Can you sight?Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Information Technology10.1145/3468784.3471602(1-5)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3468784.3471602
Turkay SFormosa JCuthbert RAdinolf SBrown RKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)Virtual Reality Esports - Understanding Competitive Players’ Perceptions of Location Based VR EsportsProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445073(1-15)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445073

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