A Theory about "Presence" & Immersion

[flexy123]

(I am still frantically expecting my Rift which HOPEFULLY will come tomorrow, but I came up with an interesting theory which I want to talk about here. I looked in the dev forum too but didn't really see an appropriate section so I post this here. Mind you, I could also be entirely wrong with my assessment/theory...but it's interesting nevertheless)

For me and I guess many would agree there, FOV (field of view) is everything. I know that comparing the FOV of different devices like the Rift and Vive etc. is a "can of worms" topic, so I simply leave it. Furthermore since I don't even HAVE my Rift yet I can of course not even make a meaningful statement in regards to FOV and whether I perceive it as "sufficient" or not)

Here is my theory:

Do you know some of the most impressive VR experiences", these experiences where people say "they left them in tears" etc. because they were so impressed? I am mentioning some that come to mind: Apollo 11 VR experience, and even that new Star Wars Rogue VR thing there which is not even 3D rendering but merely a 360 move, Elite Dangerous etc. just to name some.

What do they have in common?

They have in common that they are some type of SciFi game/experience that plays (mostly) in Space.
And Space is, well, mostly black.

Any such VR experience, and this would also include games or whatever which are happening "in the dark" would make it that the perceived FOV in the headset is perceived  as bigger, without the "diving mask" effect as pronounced. Since the borders in a VR headset are black. Well duh. And a wider perceived FOV adds to "presence" and immersion.

Yesterday I came across an interesting blog where "Microsoft Engineers" equipped a DK2 with LEDs inside, sort-of like Ambilight. (You know these LED lights which some folks have around their TVs). The guys surrounded the Rift lenses with LEDs, and also equipped the inside/sides of a Rift DK2 with LEDs. The result is that the "borders" of the Rift will have lights/colors as matching the VR content, ultimately creating sort-of a "fake" giant FOV, and also saying that it immensely adds to a perceived FOV (almost like real vision FOV) *and* also helps with motion sickness.

At first I thought this is silly. Because common sense says this is idiotic, the next logical step in VR would be larger screens with large field of view anyway so that one wouldn't need such a solution of a "pseudo fake" emulation of FOV.

But at second glance it appeared to me more genius the more I thought about it.

If, in real life, you look somewhere, what is outside your rather narrow focus in the middle, say, outside a 90 deg. field of vision, you don't really "see" anyway. You merely perceive vague, fuzzy shapes, no detail or whatsoever. And this is exactly what this "ambilight"-type solution did with the LEDs inside the Rift. It was not just "lights" or coloring the rift with one color. Absolutely not. Each Rift had 70 LEDs and the effect also was sort of like "undefined shapes" and colors/lights outside the field of view....pretty close to real vision, resulting in a giant perceived although "fake" FOV and more presence and immersion.

Point of my post here is that I *think* that FOV is extremely important, and there would be ways to increase a perceived FOV without the requirement for actually having to render content (Yes I know there are other things like FOVeated rendering etc. but this is not subject of this post). What say you? First, would you agree that "space games" would give you more presence and immersion...and would you agree that it's possible because it makes a limited FOV less pronounced?

[Thane_]

RL FOV is 180 degrees horizontally.

[RorschachPhoeni]

Can't fully agree. I had good immersion with Oculus Dreamdeck and Showdown.
I agree with the point that a dark surrounding let you forget the low FOV, because you don't see the borders of the Rift all the time.

But I have the best immersion when things are very near to me (like the little characters in Lucky's Tale, The Rose and I, Allumette), when I am able to look closely at something. And when I have to concentrate. For me, immersion has a lot to do with the perception of depth. And most of the time this perception is pretty low, because the resolution is not good enough yet to give you a lot of this depth (there is no good depth over distance).

Another thing that is necessary for immersion (in my opinion): Attention to detail. Get the details right. Everything has to fit. Graphics (Geometry, Textures, Colors, Light), Sound (especialy the little things like the crackling sound of a campfire) and the controlls. The last part is where immersion fails the most.
FOV and resolution is no problem. In a few years those things are being fixed. The biggest problem is movement. Sometimes it is a nightmare and I quit playing games realy fast because of that.

To be honest: I have no idea what people had experienced that they had to cry. Maybe they have hurt their eyes. It's definitely not a spiritual experience. Maybe for people with zero experience with technology. For a caveman the discovery of fire was a enlightening (pun intended). Those times are over.