An Initiative Toward an Enhanced Industry-Reported Comfort, Accessibility, and Safety Rating System for VR Applications
Sara Vlahović, Lea Skorin‐Kapov, Željka Car · 2023
While factors such as discomfort due to ergonomic design, cybersickness, and accessibility have been studied, industry platforms offering a wide range of VR apps have been found to report only limited 'comfort ratings' (e.g., Meta), age ratings confirming appropriateness of content (e.g., Steam, Microsoft), or seizure warnings (e.g., Microsoft). In this position paper, we argue that such ratings are insufficient in terms of appropriately warning users and enabling them to make informed decisions on which apps to use. We therefore call for a joint industry and academic initiative toward proposing a standardized method of rating the comfort, accessibility, and safety of publicly available VR applications, thus aiming to address the diverse capabilities, requirements, and preferences of VR users.