“Nice to see you virtually”: Thoughtful design and evaluation of virtual avatar of the other user in AR and VR based telexistence systems

• Published in: Entertainment computing Vol. 40; p. 100457
• Main Authors: Pakanen, Minna, Alavesa, Paula, van Berkel, Niels, Koskela, Timo, Ojala, Timo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Augmented reality; Survey; Telexistence; User study; Virtual avatar; Virtual reality; Survey; Telexistence; Virtual avatar; Augmented reality; Virtual reality; User study
• ISSN: 1875-9521
• DOI: 10.1016/j.entcom.2021.100457

•Thoughtful design and evaluation of 36 comparable avatar designs.•Two studies, a user study with implemented prototype and post survey with videos.•A photorealistic full-body human avatar is preferred both in VR and AR context.•In AR context a hologram representation is favored for its see-through appearance. This paper presents two studies investigating how physically remote telexistence users wish to see other users visualized as virtual avatars in a) augmented reality, and b) immersive virtual reality while conducting a collaborative task. To answer this research question, a telexistence system was designed and implemented with simple avatar designs. After that, visual examples of alternative avatar representations for both use cases were designed by thoughtfully altering the visual parameters of 36 virtual avatar examples. The avatar designs were first evaluated in a user study with 16 participants in conjunction with using an implemented telexistence system. As a follow-up an online survey with 43 respondents was used to record their preferences regarding virtual avatar appearance. The results suggest that users prefer the other user to be represented in a photorealistic full-body human avatar in both augmented reality and virtual reality due to its humanlike representation and affordances for interaction. In augmented reality, the choice for a hologram full body avatar was also popular due to its see-through appearance, which prevents a mix-up with a real person in the physical space.