What is Beyond Presence? Dimensionality, Control, and Information Spaces

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new framework for understanding immersive virtual environments that extends beyond traditional presence, emphasizing multiple dimensions and richer information channels to shape user experience.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive multi-dimensional framework for designing and evaluating immersive environments, moving beyond perceptual illusions to include social, cultural, and cognitive parameters.

Findings

Identifies key dimensions influencing virtual experience

Highlights the importance of information channels beyond presence

Provides a basis for designing richer immersive environments

Abstract

What is after presence? Spatial presence, the sense of "being there", is becoming less of a primary objective and more of a baseline expectation of virtual reality. More than six decades after its invention, VR is shifting from a technical system into a cultural, social, and phenomenological medium, offering experiences that function as distinct modes of reality. Existing theories that focus primarily on perceptual illusions are no longer sufficient to account for these emerging forms of experience. A new framework is needed to guide the design and evaluation of immersive environments by identifying the key technical and abstract dimensions afforded by virtual worlds. These dimensions include spatial, placeness, temporal, social, cultural, cognitive, and psychological parameters. The central argument is that immersive environments must move beyond the technical dimension to leverage richer information channels that shape user experience. This shift from presence to experience orchestration invites creators across disciplines to contribute to the design and assessment of meaningful immersive worlds.