Exploring the Impact of Passthrough on VR Exergaming in Public Environments: A Field Study

TL;DR

The paper investigates whether Passthrough technology enhances VR exergaming in public spaces. Using a within-subject field study in a campus underground passage, it compares a closed-room baseline, a public environment, and a public environment with Passthrough, employing a Fruit Ninja–style exergame and multifaceted outcome measures. Results show that playing in public without Passthrough reduces performance and social comfort, while Passthrough improves performance and co-presence without harming presence, and is especially beneficial for highly self-conscious users. These findings suggest Passthrough can enable safer, more acceptable, and health-promoting VR exergaming in real-world public settings, with implications for design and deployment in workplaces and campuses.

Abstract

Sedentary behavior is becoming increasingly prevalent in daily work and study environments. VR exergaming has emerged as a promising solution in these places of work and study. However, private spaces in these environments are not easy, and engaging in VR exergaming in public settings presents its own set of challenges (e.g., safety, social acceptance, isolation, and privacy protection). The recent development of Passthrough functionality in VR headsets allows users to maintain awareness of their surroundings, enhancing safety and convenience. Despite its potential benefits, little is known about how Passthrough could affect user performance and experience and solve the challenges of playing VR exergames in real-world public environments. To our knowledge, this work is the first to conduct a field study in an underground passageway on a university campus to explore the use of Passthrough in a real-world public environment, with a disturbance-free closed room as a baseline. Results indicate that enabling Passthrough in a public environment improves performance without compromising presence. Moreover, Passthrough can increase social acceptance, especially among individuals with higher levels of self-consciousness. These findings highlight Passthrough's potential to encourage VR exergaming adoption in public environments, with promising implications for overall health and well-being.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: A participant is engaging in VR exergaming in (a) a distraction-free closed room and (b) an underground passageway with continuous traffic.
• Figure 2: (a) The user swings the controllers to (b) slice fruits in the game. (c) The user squats to (d) dodge the horizontal bar obstacle in the game.
• Figure 3: Mean game score, fruit cut rate, and obstacle avoidance rate for Baseline, PE, and PE-P. Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. * and ** indicate statistical significance at the $p < 0.05$ and $p < 0.01$ levels, respectively.
• Figure 4: PENS ratings for Baseline, PE, and PE-P. Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. * and ** indicate statistical significance at the $p < 0.05$ and $p < 0.01$ levels, respectively.
• Figure 5: Co-presence and Social Acceptability ratings for Baseline, PE, and PE-P. Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. *, **, and *** indicate statistical significance at the $p < 0.05, p < 0.01,$ and $p < 0.001$ levels, respectively.