IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July 2018 - 41

in recognizing the new principles of the virtual world. In
comparison to Ronja, Kathy did not pay much attention to
her altered body, nor was she concerned with actively intervening in the virtual world, as it was seen in the two following types.
Asked which demo she favored, Kathy explained, "The
second one (Sightline: The Chair) in a funny way, although
you yourself were rather passive because of these impressions. At the first one (Blocks), you had control somehow
and could design the whole environment yourself, which was
not possible in the second one. Whereupon the second environment felt more real to me because the impressions hailed
down on me, and I couldn't do anything about it."
Kathy explored the surrounding world, which had an
impact on her (i.e., "hailed down") in a way that "she can't do
anything about it." However, it appeared that she viewed this
in a positive light. Even though, one might think, she was in
control of everything that happened in the demo blocks, she
devalued this principle as less real. Therefore, Kathy did not
get involved in VR by any means of controlling herself or the
world, but rather by exploring the chaotic and unclear structures of the world, which were coming at her uncontrollably.
As Kathy said, "Yes. I personally found this very paradoxical. [...] But I think this has to do with the fact that in our
society, we are also influenced a lot from the outside. [...]
And we're not necessarily confronted with clear shapes or
structures and that this chaos or this adaptation is an essential
part of our lives. And, accordingly, this feels somehow more
real than having complete control."
In contrast to being in complete control, Kathy felt much
more exposed to the world of Sightline (described by a feeling
of helplessness and the impression that the world could snap at
her). To Kathy, this principle would be the same as in the real
world and, thus, created a more realistic feeling of being present in that world. In Sightline, she made a journey through different rooms that had influenced her. It became clear that
Kathy preferred Sightline because only here was she able to
follow her preferred orientation; that is, the exploration of the
world clattering on her. She also had a strikingly low value in
her self-efficacy score; therefore, it could be assumed that she
tended to attribute her experiences to external factors in real
life as well.

control with a Focus on oneselF
This type of focus prefers a controlled observation of oneself
against the backdrop of the virtual environment. Here, the user
ponders, "How does this world affect me?" This time, however,
the focus is on controlling the influence on oneself, known as
emotional gatekeeping. Lloyd, who preferred his surrender to a
complex and unpredictable environment like Sightline to that
of total control in Blocks, is an example of this type of focus.
As Lloyd stated, "At this place (i.e., in Sightline), where it
gets a little bit wobbly, that was a moment, where I thought
somehow, 'Phew, okay, wow!' But somehow, never in that
kind of way that you would actually feel fear or panic, but
more like, 'Okay, this is somehow a funny experience

Lloyd was not interested in getting
to know himself in another way;
rather, his main concern was to initially create some safe observation
point from which he was able to
see the world from a distance.
because you watch this whole universe, where something
explodes and some stones fly above.' Because you just know,
'Okay, nothing can happen.' There wasn't any moment where
you would have been frightened or so, because it was always like this, 'Oh, now asteroids fly around,' but I know
I'm not getting hit. So I just watched them. Right. I found it
really impressive."
At the beginning of Lloyd's recollection, he mentioned a
scene that, in most circumstances, would trigger a fear of
heights, and he described it as funny. Lloyd was able to watch
this scene with a sense of calm and summarized the whole
scene as impressive. Even though the experience was a positive one, he seemed less affected by it. The following quote
makes this even clearer: "In some parts, it was a little bit foreseeable but that's not a problem because it gives a certain
safety in the experience." To Lloyd, the idea of safety became
fundamental to controlling his own feelings. According to
this, Lloyd differentiated between an experience of reality and
a mere interface test, as he put it. To him, Sightline was one of
these experiences of reality that confronted him in an uncontrollable way: "These are real experiences, just as if it was
really happening to me, so that you actually quite briefly felt
that you somehow slipped off and that you're actually like,
'Wow, okay.'" In comparison, Blocks only offered Lloyd an
experience of interaction because he was just checking out a
new interaction tool and not some different reality: "And this
is the place where I can try out things that I usually cannot try.
And then you're fully in. But never in that kind of body, in
such a physical reality."
Lloyd was not interested in getting to know himself in
another way; rather, his main concern was to initially create
some safe observation point from which he was able to see
the world from a distance. This kind of orientation made it
possible to control the effects the world has on him. Since
Lloyd certainly experiences his world through an acting self,
he actively decided how he is affected.

control with a Focus on the world
This type of focus involves controlling the world by actively
taking hold of it. An example of this is Jake, who tries to
take control of the world in both demos. Here, the central
orientation toward immersion seems to be, "How may I
affect this world?"
In Sightline, Jake considered his influence as minimal
(i.e., "It's like a movie"), so he immediately tried to trick the
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