Augmented Virtuality integrates physical content into virtual environments, but the occlusion of physical by virtual content is a challenge. This unwanted occlusion may disrupt user interactions with physical devices and compromise safety and usability. This paper investigates two resolution strategies to address this issue: Redirected Walking, which subtly adjusts the user’s movement to maintain physical-virtual alignment, and Automatic Teleport Rotation, which realigns the virtual environment during travel. A user study set in a virtual forest demonstrates that both methods effectively reduce occlusion. While in our testbed, Automatic Teleport Rotation achieves higher occlusion resolution, it is suspected to increase cybersickness compared to the less intrusive Redirected Walking approach.

The user study presented in this paper explores the effects that being immersed in different virtual scenes has on a user’s avatar-design behavior. For this purpose, we have developed a character creation tool that lets users configure their appearance in Virtual Reality. This tool has then been employed in a user study involving 33 participants, who were asked to configure a virtual avatar in a beach and a hospital environment. Our results show that the environment that participants were immersed in influenced their design behavior, with the beach environment leading to a more extensive use of accessories than the hospital scene. Against our expectations, most participants stated to have had little intention to represent either their real or ideal selves, instead opting to explore different characters that they found funny, likable, or interesting. In addition, we found indications for a possible connection between the participants’ feelings of presence and how they incorporate features of themselves into their avatar designs.

This paper presents a VR-based serious game. The game aims to raise awareness about ocean pollution by immersing players in a virtual underwater world where they collect trash to prevent coral bleaching and save marine life. Despite their efforts, players inevitably face game over, highlighting the futility of merely collecting trash and underscoring the need to prevent waste from entering oceans. The game uses various diegetic feedback mechanisms and enhanced user presence features to deepen emotional engagement and promote pro-environmental behavior.