Room-scale locomotion in VR can promote physical movement to combat the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, it is useful to investigate factors which may motivate users to walk instead of teleport. In a within-subjects study with 24 participants, we investigated the effects of avatar appearance and target distance on users' locomotion behavior, when given the option to either walk or teleport. In particular, we manipulated three aspects of avatar appearance-body completeness (full-body vs upper-body only), body weight (normal vs obese), and clothing (casual vs superhero armor), and we provided three target distances (1.5 meters, 3.0 meters, and 4.5 meters). We found that avatar obesity decreased willingness to walk, but only for full-body avatars. We also found that close target distances encouraged more walking than teleporting, up to a certain threshold distance. Additionally, we found that users' perceived similarity to their avatar correlated with their willingness to walk. Our findings can be applied to motivate users to walk more in VR, such as in VR exergames.

As virtual reality (VR) continues to expand, particularly in social VR platforms and immersive gaming environments, understanding the factors that shape user experience is becoming increasingly important. Avatars and locomotion methods play central roles in influencing how users identify with their virtual representations and navigate virtual spaces. Despite extensive research on these elements individually, their relationship remains underexplored. In particular, little is known about how congruence between avatar appearance and locomotion method affects user perceptions. This study investigates the impact of avatar-locomotion congruence on user experience and avatar identification in VR. We conducted a within-subjects experiment with 30 participants, employing two visually distinct avatar types (human and gorilla) and two locomotion methods (human-like arm-swinging and gorilla-like arm-rolling), to assess their individual and combined effects. Our results indicate that congruence between avatar appearance and locomotion method enhances both avatar identification and user experience. These findings contribute to the understanding of the relationship between avatars and locomotion in VR, with potential applications in enhancing user experience in immersive gaming, social VR, and gamified remote physical therapy.