Web-Based VR Experiments Powered by the Crowd

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of conducting Web-based VR experiments via crowdsourcing, reproducing key VR illusions and highlighting challenges and potential for scalable, low-cost, diverse population research.

Contribution

It introduces a novel recruiting and validation method for crowdsourced VR experiments and demonstrates their feasibility through three illusion reproductions.

Findings

Crowdsourced VR experiments are feasible with current technology.

Participants can reliably experience VR illusions remotely.

Challenges like scale still need to be addressed.

Abstract

We build on the increasing availability of Virtual Reality (VR) devices and Web technologies to conduct behavioral experiments in VR using crowdsourcing techniques. A new recruiting and validation method allows us to create a panel of eligible experiment participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Using this panel, we ran three different crowdsourced VR experiments, each reproducing one of three VR illusions: place illusion, embodiment illusion, and plausibility illusion. Our experience and worker feedback on these experiments show that conducting Web-based VR experiments using crowdsourcing is already feasible, though some challenges---including scale---remain. Such crowdsourced VR experiments on the Web have the potential to finally support replicable VR experiments with diverse populations at a low cost.