Effects of Travel Modes on Performances and User Comfort: A Comparison between ArmSwinger and Teleporting

The commercialization of Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) aimed at the general public has led several videogame and virtual reality companies to offer new modes for continuous travel, in addition to commonly implemented instantaneous travel modes such as the Teleporting metaphor. These new modes include the ArmSwinger metaphor, seen as "more natural." Yet unlike Teleporting mode, ArmSwinger mode has so far not been studied. Our study was designed to fill this gap, by comparing the effects of these two travel modes implemented on an HTC Vive in terms of performance and user comfort. We collected two measures of performance (effectiveness and efficiency) and three measures of user comfort (cybersickness, user experience, and cognitive load). Results showed that (1) no significant difference was found in completion time between ArmSwinger mode and Teleporting mode, even if ArmSwinger mode seems more effective; (2) ArmSwinger mode caused more cybersickness than Teleporting mode in terms of nausea; (3) ArmSwinger mode produced a more negative user experience than the Teleporting mode in relation to appealingness qualities; and (4) ArmSwinger mode created a higher cognitive load than Teleporting mode in relation to the physical demand, effort, and frustration dimensions.