Throwing VR controllers out the window
I got my first HTC Vive 2 years ago, and I love it. I chose it over the Oculus because the room-scale experience was better. During that time I have organized many VR parties which—unbeknownst to me—have become hilarious User Experience Research sessions. Often there were problems caused by the controllers. As a product designer I couldn’t help but analyze the issues and try to figure out how to solve them.
HTC Vive’s are the first widely used consumer VR controllers, and they do an excellent job. They fit in your hands very well, ergonomically they’re almost flawless. The shape reminds of the classic PlayStation design, which was the first controller I held in my hand that seemed designed to be comfortable to hold by humans. However, this controller is made for swinging not just holding, and the arrangement and design of some of the buttons can ruin a good VR experience.
Let’s analyze the 4 elements that I have found users struggle the most with: Grip Button, Menu and System Buttons, Trackpad, and Holding the controller.
Grip Buttons
Not many people notice the grip buttons. Gamers or not, users don’t expect to find buttons on the handle of controllers. When I first saw them, I thought that they had a lot of potential since they don’t require the user’s fingers to change position in order to press them. They can be triggered with a firm squeeze. Sadly, except for the reload in The Brookhaven Experiment, I have not seen them being used by many developers. A tight grip on the controller can easily become a grip-button press and trigger unwanted actions.
Their easy accessibility is also their biggest flaw.
Menu and System Buttons
Above and below the trackpad there are two secondary buttons, they are used for System and Menu options, so they’re not required in-game. I believe that’s the reason why HTC tried to move them out of the way. The Menu button requires your thumb to move up beyond its natural position. The System button is even more subtle, slightly carved in the handle. You can feel it but it’s not standing out like the Menu button. They’re both designed so users don’t press them by mistake.
Users press them by mistake. Often.
When you are holding something in your hand your grip changes more than you think. Depending on the next move you naturally adjust the position of your hand to perform it easily. So your thumb will move a bit, falling on one of these buttons and pressing it. And believe me, it is very frustrating to be on a roll on Beat Saber and press either of those buttons. It ruins the whole experience.
For what I’ve seen, it’s the System button that causes the most error presses. The following seconds usually go like this:
Friend — What happened?
Me — You pressed the System button by mistake.
Friend — Oh, I’m sorry / No I didn’t! / The what…?
Me — It’s okay. Press it again.
Friend — Where is it?
Me — Okay I will do it for you, just don’t move.
And then I solve the issue by pressing the button for them. Risking being hit by a friend, or scaring them if I don’t say loud and clear that I am about to hold their wrist. Okay, I admit that scaring people is kind of fun. It’s also evil.
Trackpad
The biggest button in the HTC VIVE controllers are two big rounded Trackpad that can be pressed too. They are very sensitive, and a nightmare to use in my opinion. I imagine this particular button was chosen because it gives developers a wide range of actions to be translated into VR. A jack of all trades button.
For example, the game Space Pirate Trainer allows you to change the type of weapon by swiping in circles on the Trackpad.
In the middle of a fight, robots flying and firing around my head, music blasting in the air, lasers too, I find myself having to perform heart surgery-level precision moves to select one of 6 options. No wonder I fail often. In Virtual Reality you can’t see your hands, your fingers, the controllers, the buttons… There is no way for me to know my finger’s exact position, so if I reach with my thumb there is no way of knowing where it will land.
The affordances on the Trackpad could be better. It’s a rounded flat surface. The only way of knowing where exactly you’ll place the thumb is if you’re around the edges, and that’s not good enough.
I wish that instead of a Trackpad there were a set of buttons, or a D-pad, away from the main grip so you can’t press them by mistake when swinging the controller around.
Holding the controller
And last, but not least, let’s look at the grip itself and the weight balance.
I have one of the controllers by my side as I write this. Grabbing it feels more or less natural, it is more ergonomic than the squared Wii Remote, but the weight distribution is not as good, specially for people with smaller hands than average (not talking about Trump).
The Nintendo remote had the batteries at the bottom putting the weight at the bottom of the grip and making it less likely to be thrown. Although the HTC Vive controller feels light for its size, the weight distribution and the wideness makes it harder to have a tight grip on. It’s like holding a cone upside down, tightening the grip will make the cone to go up and eventually fall out of your hands. The way they are shaped, it makes me feel that they’re slipping out of my hands especially when I swing them around, making me having to readjust constantly. And for some reason is a bit too wide, making it hard to wrap your hand around it.
And thus, the throwing the remotes out the window. HTC, like Nintendo, knew people would get excited — you should see me playing Beat Saber — so they added straps to the design to prevent flying controllers. However, I never lost grip of a Wii Remote. On the other hand I have lost the grip of the HTC Vive controller many times. The straps have saved the remote, but I still worry about launching it out the window of my 10th floor apartment.
The straps are necessary regardless, but the grip would be better if it was more like a tennis racket handle.
Conclusions
Perhaps I have tiny hands. Or perhaps the design could be iterated to allow for a better grip, move the buttons out of the way, and trade the Trackpad for buttons that have better affordances.
By the design of the controller you can tell the designers tried to anticipate this issues. Carving the buttons in, or moving them out of the way. Shaping the handle so it fits just right, adjusting the weight balance, adding security straps… And I think this is a great first iteration for a VR remote, it’s like a Swiss Army Knife of remotes, it includes many buttons that can be used in a wide range of situations. But the complexity comes with a cost, too many buttons on the way. Oculus designers surely studied these controllers carefully while they were designing the Oculus Touch.
Perhaps a more opinionated design with less buttons would’ve made for a better standard set of buttons/actions across different games.
I play with my Vive almost every day, and I love it. Now I can’t wait to see the next generation of controllers.
Hopefully with less trackpads.
Thanks to Chandler for proof-reading and editing this article.
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