Daddy Long Legs: A Scale and Speed Up Virtual Reality Locomotion Technique for Medium-scale Scenarios

Locomotion techniques are essential to enhance the sense of presence or "being there" in virtual reality. This research proposes a novel technique, "Daddy Long Legs" (DLL), for navigating medium-scale virtual environments. DLL builds on principles from Seven-league Boots (7LB) and Ground-level Scaling (GLS), aiming to enhance positional accuracy by offering an elevated perspective while preserving immersion through maintaining the user's interpupillary distance. A user study (n = 24) compared three methods across comfort, embodiment, workload, and walking behavior. Participants completed walking tasks in a virtual garden, followed by questionnaires and interviews to capture their experiences. Results show that DLL outperformed 7LB in all measures. However, GLS was noted for its near-natural walking behavior, received the most favorable feedback, and was the preferred locomotion method.