XR Commandment #10 - Don't Make Your Users Sick

Last week, I wrote "The 10 Commandments of XR," a list of the most common guidelines for designing an interactive experience. Over the next few weeks, I will illustrate each with concrete examples.

Let's start with the end, commandment #10, titled "Test The User Experience," or, in short, don't make people sick! A couple of weeks ago, Apple released an immersive video of a Metallica concert recorded in Mexico.

First, Let me set the technical stage: these videos are 180°, 3D, 8K. In other words, you are immersed in the video, which takes up all the space in front of you. It's in 3D, meaning that you can see the depth of the image very strongly, especially in 8K resolution.

The Apple Immersive Videos are impressive, a top-notch quality I have never seen before.

But, as Spider-Man was reminded, "Great power comes with great responsibility." This responsibility is to take care of your users, and we are really not there during this 30-minute video. The light flashes and transitions between black and white and color are already a bit unsettling, but the worst of it was the constant change of plans between close-up crowd videos, plans on each of the members, and plans on the whole stadium.

Remember: We see this in 3D, which means our eyes and brain must adjust to each change of depth. This resulted in a very uncomfortable experience that made me a bit nauseous, even though I'm usually quite resilient.

Even if the trend in music videos is such a rhythm, following the trend is just not worth it.

Instead, we should have had more extended plans with fewer movements and cuts. The best would be for users to be able to choose the plan they want to look at—a feature that is not yet available in these immersive videos but would add tremendous value.

I was still headbanging during Enter Sandman, though—maybe that's why my neck hurts this morning.

In contrast, another video released recently is a new clip from The Weeknd, "Open Hearts." Even though it uses the same technology, the slow, long sequences are beautifully designed, and even when the depth can be felt very strongly, it's a perfectly comfortable experience.

Reversal: use discomfort as a feature.

As every rule is made to be broken, there are instances where we intentionally want to introduce discomfort. In a horror game, you can use rapid switches between places, lights, and depth to induce fear, or, more seriously, Virtual Reality is also used to treat PTSD patients with PTSD to recreate controlled traumatic environments.

Creators, are you exploring this new medium for your next project? Let's discuss!

The 10 Commandments of XR: https://lnkd.in/gnZkkKNS