Abstract
Making virtual reality (VR) more accessible for novice and non-digital users has largely focused on single-user solutions, such as tutorials, tooltips, and visual guidance cues. While structured on-boarding protocols have proven effective, they do not scale well for multiple collocated users due to varying assistance needs, different learning speeds, and guidance preferences. Additionally, the sudden isolation upon entering VR can cause disorientation, particularly in group settings where users may lose awareness of their physical and social surrounding. This paper proposes a novel onboarding framework that extends traditional procedures with four phases: 1) entering video see-through mixed reality after putting on the HMD, 2) interactive tutorials in mixed reality, 3) adaptive group transition strategies into VR, and 4) structured exit mechanisms. In our implementation of the framework, we explore three concepts for group transitions: individual, sequential, and collective. In a user study with 36 participants, we collected feedback on our mixed-reality onboarding approach and evaluate the usability, co-presence, agency, and continuity of our three proposed transition techniques and compare it to the common direct transition into virtual reality. Our results indicate a clear preference for onboarding through an additional mixed reality stage and provide valuable insights into advantages and trade-offs of the different group transition strategies.
Publication
Schott, E., Zoeppig, T., Viriyathomrongul, P., Lammert, A., Froehlich, B.
VR Onboarding Procedures for Multiple Collocated Users: See-Through Tutorials and Group Transitions.
In 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR), Daejeon, Korea, 2025.
DOI: 10.1109/ISMAR67309.2025.00043.
[preprint][supplementary video]