Embodiment in Virtual Environments - Analyzing the Effects of Latency and Avatar Representation

The way a user is represented in virtual reality is a key element for applications ranging from entertainment to immersive communication and remote collaboration. Having realistic and expressive avatars leads to a stronger sense of embodiment and presence. However, they also lead to increased system latency, which can cause several negative effects, including cybersickness and a reduced sense of embodiment. We conducted a user study to investigate the (interaction) effects of avatar representation/quality and latency on embodiment, task efficiency, and cybersickness in VR. Specifically, we compared a high-quality, personalized point cloud avatar with a lower-quality pre-modeled mesh avatar and latency settings between 150 and 300 ms. We found that the avatar quality had a greater effect on all components of embodiment than latency, and that the perception of the latter was influenced by the avatar representation. High-quality avatars were consistently and significantly rated superior and led to a less severe perception of latency. In contrast, avatar type and latency level had little effect on task efficiency and no notable one on cybersickness. Our work has practical implications for researchers and developers as it shows that having a high-quality avatar in VR is crucial, even at the cost of higher latency, as its benefits outweigh and reduce the negative effects of latency.