Virtual reality vs. pancake environments: a comparison of interaction on immersive and traditional screens

Virtual Reality environments provide an immersive experience for the user. Since humans see the real world in 3D, being placed in a virtual environment allows the brain to perceive the virtual world as a real environment. This paper examines the contrasts between the two different user interfaces by presenting test subjects with the same 3D environment through a traditional flat screen (pancake) and an immersive virtual reality (VR) system. The participants (n=31) are computer literate and familiar with computer generated virtual worlds. We recorded each user’s interactions while they undertook a short-supervised play session with both hardware options to gathering objective data; with a questionnaire to collect subjective data, to gain an understanding of their interaction in a virtual world. The information provided an opportunity to understand how we can influence future interface implementation used in the technology. Analysis of the data has found that people are open to using VR to explore a virtual space with some unconventional interaction abilities such as using the whole body to interact. Due to modern VR being a young platform very few best practice conventions are known in this space compared to the more established flat screen equivalent.