A few tips for onboarding VR users

I’ve been running VR sessions for over 8 years now. I’ve been doing a bunch recently for a large consultancy, as part of it, we’ve been training up staff to run these sessions in the future. It made me reflect on some of the less obvious things we tell people and I wanted to share them here as we help build a betterverse.

Here are four tips for onboarding VR users.

1) Make users feel safe and accepted

When we supervise people going into a virtual reality experience, they are surrendering their sense of sight and hearing at the very minimum.

These people are our responsibility, and it is essential that we make people feel safe.

Simple ways to do this include hosting your VR experience in a private area. This does not necessarily mean every user needs a private booth, but it should be separated from people who aren’t sharing the immersive experience.

Additionally, during your onboarding, make it very clear that you’re there to look after them. You will keep them safe; you will watch their belongings and if they ever feel uncomfortable or stuck, they simply need to raise their hand and you’ll be there.

2) Think about the user journey and design the briefing based on this

When you’re explaining how an app or experience works, there can be quite a few steps that the user needs to follow. Think about how the experience runs and how to make your explanation as straightforward as possible.

For example, if the user needs to select a specific option on the second screen, tell them this after you have explained how they navigate through the first screen. I know this might seem obvious but sometimes you can get caught up in the complexities that you forget some of the simplest things.

3) Survey the room and adjust your briefing accordingly

Be aware of different people’s access needs or requirements. Make sure to know the process for users with access requirements (hearing aids, wheelchair access, etc).

Additionally, if you see members of the audience with religious or ceremonial headwear, be aware that this will require specific guidance and care to put on a VR headset.

You don’t need to address people specifically in your briefing, and I would advise against it because you don’t want to single people out. This would break the first rule of making people feel safe. I would just try to integrate the additional points where needed into the briefing and then make sure they are looked after when putting headsets on.

Example points here would be;

• “If you wear glasses, put the headset on “eyes first” to make sure they seated well and don’t cause pressure marks”
• “If you have any access requirements and we have not already been informed, please let me know once we have begun by raising your hand”
• “The Velcro strap on the top of the headset can be adjust to provide additional support or completely undone if you require additional space”

4) Keep things clear and concise with a recap at the end.

There’s a lot of information to convey and it’s totally understandable for people to forget something during the onboarding process. A straightforward way to minimise this is with a final summary that includes bullet points of the core information that users need to know.

To recap

• Make users feel safe and accepted
• Think about the user journey and design the briefing based on this
• Survey the room and adjust your briefing accordingly
• Keep things clear and concise with a recap at the end.