UX in Virtual Reality. Qualitative Assessment Based on a Range of Applications

In this article we present the results of a qualitative study in which different applications in an immersive virtual reality (IVR) environment were presented to children and adults without experience in using IVR. The aim of the study was to evaluate such first experiences, with a particular focus on UX. Data were collected both on the basis of observations of subjects’ behaviour and during qualitative interviews held directly after the experiment. The analysis of the conducted interviews was carried out in the following areas: presence (as a sense of being there), immersion (sensory fidelity of simulation), interactivity of applications, ways of controlling the application and ways of moving around in the virtual world. The most important results of the study concern the assessment of different ways of moving around in IVR and the ways of handling different types of interfaces available in IVR. We also observed age-related differences in the speed of adaptation and the perception of elements of the virtual world.