{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/113532"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/113532","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"An Investigation into Locomotion Techniques for Use in Virtual Reality Games","abstract":"The Virtual Reality (VR) industry has experienced growth in recent years with companies such as HTC, Meta, and Valve releasing more consumer-grade headsets. While certain companies such as Meta are pushing for more productivity focused applications of VR, VR remains a primary target for games. Locomotion is still a fundamental problem in games and other applications. Over the years, many researchers have examined application-agnostic and domain-specific techniques. However, few studies have been conducted on techniques specific for the environments and challenges found in first-person games. This thesis contributes with the design and evaluation of new locomotion techniques for VR games. We conducted a user study with 27 participants to evaluate one novel techniques (Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports (RSRT)), a node-based technique (Continuous Movement Pads (CMP)), and a grabbing metaphor (World Grab) with popular techniques (Smooth Locomotion, Teleport). Most preferred by participants, we found that CMP could be a suitable alternative for games compared to Smooth Locomotion and Teleport based on performance data such as time, damage taken, overall usability from System Usability Scale Questionnaires, and overall workload measured from the NASA Task-Load Index Questionnaire. We also found that RSRT and World Grab were least preferred overall and performed measurably worse in terms of time, number of falls in a section designed to measure precision and accuracy, usability, and overall workload.","abstract_html":"The Virtual Reality (VR) industry has experienced growth in recent years with companies such as HTC, Meta, and Valve releasing more consumer-grade headsets. While certain companies such as Meta are pushing for more productivity focused applications of VR, VR remains a primary target for games. Locomotion is still a fundamental problem in games and other applications. Over the years, many researchers have examined application-agnostic and domain-specific techniques. However, few studies have been conducted on techniques specific for the environments and challenges found in first-person games. This thesis contributes with the design and evaluation of new locomotion techniques for VR games. We conducted a user study with 27 participants to evaluate one novel techniques (Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports (RSRT)), a node-based technique (Continuous Movement Pads (CMP)), and a grabbing metaphor (World Grab) with popular techniques (Smooth Locomotion, Teleport). Most preferred by participants, we found that CMP could be a suitable alternative for games compared to Smooth Locomotion and Teleport based on performance data such as time, damage taken, overall usability from System Usability Scale Questionnaires, and overall workload measured from the NASA Task-Load Index Questionnaire. We also found that RSRT and World Grab were least preferred overall and performed measurably worse in terms of time, number of falls in a section designed to measure precision and accuracy, usability, and overall workload.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Moore, Cameron Alexander"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Computer Science and Applications","degree_department":"Computer Science and Applications","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Santos Lages, Wallace"],"committee_members":["Bowman, Douglas A.","Gracanin, Denis"],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-01-26","date_published":"2023-01-26","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:40Z","subjects":["Virtual Reality","Games","Locomotion","Movement","Human-Computer Interaction"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"],"rights_urls":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:36357"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:36357","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/113532","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Santos Lages, Wallace"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Bowman, Douglas A.","Gracanin, Denis"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Computer Science and Applications"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Moore, Cameron Alexander"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2023-01-27T09:00:16Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-01-27T09:00:16Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023-01-26"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Computer Science and Applications"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Virtual Reality","Games","Locomotion","Movement","Human-Computer Interaction"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:36357"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/113532"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The Virtual Reality (VR) industry has experienced growth in recent years with companies such as HTC, Meta, and Valve releasing more consumer-grade headsets. While certain companies such as Meta are pushing for more productivity focused applications of VR, VR remains a primary target for games. Locomotion is still a fundamental problem in games and other applications. Over the years, many researchers have examined application-agnostic and domain-specific techniques. However, few studies have been conducted on techniques specific for the environments and challenges found in first-person games. This thesis contributes with the design and evaluation of new locomotion techniques for VR games. We conducted a user study with 27 participants to evaluate one novel techniques (Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports (RSRT)), a node-based technique (Continuous Movement Pads (CMP)), and a grabbing metaphor (World Grab) with popular techniques (Smooth Locomotion, Teleport). Most preferred by participants, we found that CMP could be a suitable alternative for games compared to Smooth Locomotion and Teleport based on performance data such as time, damage taken, overall usability from System Usability Scale Questionnaires, and overall workload measured from the NASA Task-Load Index Questionnaire. We also found that RSRT and World Grab were least preferred overall and performed measurably worse in terms of time, number of falls in a section designed to measure precision and accuracy, usability, and overall workload."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["The Virtual Reality (VR) industry has experienced growth in recent years with companies such as HTC, Meta, and Valve releasing more consumer-grade headsets. While certain companies such as Meta are pushing for more productivity focused applications of VR, VR remains a primary target for games. Locomotion or movement within VR is a problem that does not just have one answer. There are many ways to move around in VR, with many researchers having examined the topic. This thesis explores the different methods of VR locomotion and provides information about a user study conducted regarding several novel techniques. We conducted a user study with 27 participants to evaluate one novel techniques (Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports), a node-based technique (Continuous Movement Pads), and a method (World Grab) based on a metaphor for moving in VR with more traditional techniques (Smooth Locomotion, Teleport). Based on the results of the study, we found that Continuous Movement Pads could be a suitable alternative for games compared to Smooth Locomotion and Teleport based on performance data and qualitative analysis of participants' preferences. However, we also found that Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports and World Grab were least preferred overall."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An Investigation into Locomotion Techniques for Use in Virtual Reality Games"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Santos Lages, Wallace"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Bowman, Douglas A.","Gracanin, Denis"],"dc:contributor.department":["Computer Science and Applications"],"dc:creator":["Moore, Cameron Alexander"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-01-27T09:00:16Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-01-27T09:00:16Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023-01-26"],"dc:description.abstract":["The Virtual Reality (VR) industry has experienced growth in recent years with companies such as HTC, Meta, and Valve releasing more consumer-grade headsets. 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Most preferred by participants, we found that CMP could be a suitable alternative for games compared to Smooth Locomotion and Teleport based on performance data such as time, damage taken, overall usability from System Usability Scale Questionnaires, and overall workload measured from the NASA Task-Load Index Questionnaire. We also found that RSRT and World Grab were least preferred overall and performed measurably worse in terms of time, number of falls in a section designed to measure precision and accuracy, usability, and overall workload."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["The Virtual Reality (VR) industry has experienced growth in recent years with companies such as HTC, Meta, and Valve releasing more consumer-grade headsets. While certain companies such as Meta are pushing for more productivity focused applications of VR, VR remains a primary target for games. Locomotion or movement within VR is a problem that does not just have one answer. There are many ways to move around in VR, with many researchers having examined the topic. This thesis explores the different methods of VR locomotion and provides information about a user study conducted regarding several novel techniques. We conducted a user study with 27 participants to evaluate one novel techniques (Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports), a node-based technique (Continuous Movement Pads), and a method (World Grab) based on a metaphor for moving in VR with more traditional techniques (Smooth Locomotion, Teleport). Based on the results of the study, we found that Continuous Movement Pads could be a suitable alternative for games compared to Smooth Locomotion and Teleport based on performance data and qualitative analysis of participants' preferences. However, we also found that Repeated Short-Ranged Teleports and World Grab were least preferred overall."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:36357"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/113532"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"dc:subject":["Virtual Reality","Games","Locomotion","Movement","Human-Computer Interaction"],"dc:title":["An Investigation into Locomotion Techniques for Use in Virtual Reality Games"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Computer Science and Applications"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:40Z"}