Exploration of exocentric perspective interfaces for virtual reality collaborative tasks

Exocentric views play a pivotal role in computer-mediated collaboration, especially in Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs), where focusing on the actions and operations of collaboration partners is crucial. The exocentric perspective offers users a vantage point to ascertain the whereabouts and actions of their partners, enhancing spatial awareness and social presence in CVEs. Moreover, interacting via the Exocentric Perspective Interface (ExPI) can help users complete searching and manipulation tasks remotely and efficiently. This work investigates the potential benefits of two representative ExPIs, World In Miniature (WIM) and 2D Map, for VR collaboration. We conducted a user study with 36 participants (18 pairs) to compare WIM and the 2D Map against a baseline in a VR collaborative task encompassing a series of searching and manipulation tasks with different task complexities (Simple, Medium, and Complex). For the Baseline (BL) condition, participants were not provided with an Exocentric Perspectives Interface (ExPI) but instead were given a map of the virtual environment (VE). The results indicate that these two ExPIs significantly improved task performance, usability, social presence, and user experience while reducing VR sickness. In addition, we also found that WIM outperformed 2D Maps, especially in complex collaborative environments. Based on the findings, three design implications are proposed to guide the design of future VR collaboration systems.