Exploring the Impact of Passthrough on VR Exergaming in Public Environments: A Field Study

Guo, Zixuan and Deng, Hanxiao and Wang, Hongyu and Tan, Angel J. Y. and Xu, Wenge and Hai-Ning, Liang (2024) Exploring the Impact of Passthrough on VR Exergaming in Public Environments: A Field Study. In: International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality. (In Press)

Text ISMAR_24_PassthroughExergames_V02_BCU.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (2MB)

Abstract

Sedentary behavior is becoming increasingly prevalent in daily work and study environments. VR exergaming has emerged as a promising solution in these places of work and study. However, private spaces in these environments are not easy, and engaging in VR exergaming in public settings presents its own set of challenges (e.g., safety, social acceptance, isolation, and privacy protection). The recent development of Passthrough functionality in VR headsets allows users to maintain awareness of their surroundings, enhancing safety and convenience. Despite its potential benefits, little is known about how Passthrough could affect user performance and experience and solve the challenges of playing VR exergames in real-world public environments. To our knowledge, this work is the first to conduct a field study in an underground passageway on a university campus to explore the use of Passthrough in a real-world public environment, with a disturbance-free closed room as a baseline. Results indicate that enabling Passthrough in a public environment improves performance without compromising presence. Moreover, Passthrough can increase social acceptance, especially among individuals with higher levels of self-consciousness. These findings highlight Passthrough's potential to encourage VR exergaming adoption in public environments, with promising implications for overall health and well-being.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Dates:	Date Event 2 August 2024 Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Virtual reality, exergaming, passthrough functionality, public environments, gameplay mechanics.
Subjects:	CAH11 - computing > CAH11-01 - computing > CAH11-01-01 - computer science
Divisions:	Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment > College of Computing
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	06 Aug 2024 14:12
Last Modified:	06 Aug 2024 14:12
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15686

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