Maintaining the Illusion of Interacting Within a 3D Virtual Space

It is widely thought to more or less a degree, that a sense of presence may be induced in users of new and emerging media technologies, such as, the Internet, digital television and cinema (supporting interaction), teleconferencing and 3D virtual reality systems. In this paper, it is argued that presence presupposes that participants are absorbed in the illusion of interacting within the visual spaces created by these media. That is, prior to the possibility of any inducement of presence, participants need to be absorbed in the illusion conveyed by the media. Without this, participants’ attention is broken and the illusion is lost. Hence, the potential to induce presence in participants ceases. To encourage participants to lose sight of the means of representation and be drawn into the illusion conveyed by these media, this paper proposes the development of design principles to increase participants’ experience. In an attempt to inform design principles, this paper focuses on another artificial although highly successful visual medium - film. By way of example, this paper concentrates on one medium, virtual reality, and proposes design principles that attempt to maintain the illusion of interacting within 3D virtual space. This attempts to provide a platform through the resourceful blend of hardware and software Virtual Reality (VR) enabling technologies on which to support a well designed virtual environment and hence, from which the inducement of presence in participants may develop.