Effect of Degrees of Freedom on the Quality of Use of Virtual Theatre Experiences

Immersive technologies create new possibilities for media consumption. Especially in the case of cultural events such as theatre performances, new forms of participation are emerging. However, due to technical barriers, such offerings are still limited to 360° video content. In a study with 26 experienced VR users, we analyzed the influence of the degrees of freedom (DoF) of movement in seated applications on the perception of presence, motion sickness, quality of experience (QoE) and on user acceptance. The results show that the perception of presence and QoE were significantly higher with six degrees of freedom (6DoF) than with three degrees of freedom (3DoF). In a direct comparison, all participants preferred the 6DoF variant. The majority rejected the 3DoF variant, mainly due to physical discomfort. The findings indicate that solutions for 6DoF-enabled content should also be developed and provided for immersive content consumed in a seated position, such as a theater performance.