Evaluation of Virtual Reality Games: Simulator Sickness and Human Factors

This study seeks to evaluate a virtual reality system and games available on the PlayStation 4 VR system. Participants completed two questionnaires during the experiment. The first questionnaire was developed to evaluate simulator sickness in high-fidelity simulators [3]. The second questionnaire was developed by our lab to assess a number of characteristics of the VR environment (e.g., image quality, auditory surround, orientation, pointing, lag, and control). We have collected a sample of 85 participants. Participants were asked to complete surveys about demographics and current video game use and then choose a game from a list of ten different games to play on the VR system. The seven games were Demo Disk, Batman, Dangerball, Eve Valkyrie, Headmaster, London Heist, Rush of Blood, and VR Luge. Each participant played the game for about 30 minutes. Finally, they completed the simulator sickness and the VR system questionnaires. Simulator sickness was low for 58% of the participants, mild for 33%, and strong for 9%. Scores varied among the games. Ratings for sound location and image lag were good but calibration, head gear, some image blurriness were less favorable. These results can be used by game producers to develop more satisfactory VR game environments. Author