<aside> 💡 Direct manipulation in Virtual Reality (VR) refers to the user's ability to complete tasks by directly interacting with virtual objects or environments. This mode of interaction is crucial in VR as it allows users to feel a sense of presence in the virtual world and experience the direct consequences of their actions on virtual objects.
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Defining direct vs. indirect manipulation interaction is necessary to understand the distinction between the two and further grasp the meaning of this design language.
Direct manipulation is a mode of interaction where users directly interact with objects using their hands without the use of any intermediaries or agents. Since most VR devices currently still rely on controllers, using controller gestures for close-range actions can also be considered direct manipulation.
Examples of Direct Manipulation in VR:
In contrast to direct manipulation, indirect manipulation requires users to interact with an object through an agent.
Examples of Indirect Manipulation in VR:
<aside> 💡 The core idea of Project Touch is to create a full-fledged interaction system that supports direct manipulation through the creation and redesign of new interface elements. We encourage the use of direct manipulation-type interaction as much as possible in the experience. In Project Touch, lots of interactions are designed around the "grab" action, which you will be reading about in other chapters.
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Most of the VR software in the market is designed with non-direct manipulation, regardless of the distance, the user always interacts with a laser pen and a traditional 2D interface. In the early years, when most VR hardware used 3-degree-of-freedom controllers, the laser pointer was one of the few interaction modes that the hardware could pull off. At the same time, the 2D interface equipped with a laser pointer is a continuation of the traditional screen interface, which most developers/users are already familiar using it. These factors have made the laser pointer 2D interface the dominant design language in VR interaction.
Nowadays, 6-degree-of-freedom devices are becoming more common, and the boundaries between controllers and gestures start to blur, revealing the limitations of non-direct interaction devices:
In general, laser pen, as a succession of the traditional interface in a virtual reality environment, does not make good use of the advantages provided by virtual reality. In Project Touch, we should try our best to avoid using indirect manipulations such as a laser pointer.
Actions that are being done at almost every moment during the gameplay constitute the core experience of the multiplayer online platform. These interactions are infrastructure to all other functions and features of other touchpoints. Common high-frequency interactions include:
