Ego vs. Exo and Active vs. Passive: Investigating the Individual and Combined Effects of Viewpoint and Navigation on Spatial Immersion and Understanding in Immersive Storytelling

TL;DR

This study explores how different viewpoints and navigation styles in immersive storytelling affect user immersion and understanding, revealing preferences for egocentric+active and exocentric+passive approaches.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into the effects of viewpoint and navigation combinations on immersion and comprehension in immersive storytelling.

Findings

Egocentric+active view increases agency and engagement.

Exocentric+passive view enhances content focus.

Navigation significantly impacts spatial immersion.

Abstract

Visual storytelling combines visuals and narratives to communicate important insights. While web-based visual storytelling is well-established, leveraging the next generation of digital technologies for visual storytelling, specifically immersive technologies, remains underexplored. We investigated the impact of the story viewpoint (from the audience's perspective) and navigation (when progressing through the story) on spatial immersion and understanding. First, we collected web-based 3D stories and elicited design considerations from three VR developers. We then adapted four selected web-based stories to an immersive format. Finally, we conducted a user study (N=24) to examine egocentric and exocentric viewpoints, active and passive navigation, and the combinations they form. Our results indicated significantly higher preferences for egocentric+active (higher agency and engagement) and exocentric+passive (higher focus on content). We also found a marginal significance of viewpoints on story understanding and a strong significance of navigation on spatial immersion.