Control systems in virtual reality video games

Olives Orfila, Sergi

Control systems in virtual reality video games

Citation

Olives Orfila, S. Control systems in virtual reality video games. 2021. handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10230/48732

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Abstract

Video games have always moved towards the standardization of control systems. At an interaction level, the goal of games is to have the best possible user experience, therefore game controls and mechanics should be easy to understand, simple to use and similar to other existing control systems. Virtual Reality video games are no exception, but they are a younger branch of the games industry more focused on experimentation than on standardization. This work researches some of the current control systems available in Virtual Reality games and performs a user study with one of the most polarizing and central game mechanics and control systems: locomotion, or how the player moves inside a game. The goal of the study is to gather information on the locomotion game mechanics by analysing the player behaviour when using multiple control systems simultaneously. The results of this work show that control systems are heavily related to the game genre and design, and they tend to be as simple as possible although there is not a standardized control system for every given game genre. Some in-game mechanics such as picking up and releasing objects, or shooting guns seemed to be standardized, but other central mechanics do not feature this standardization, such as locomotion or inventory systems.