Does scaling player size skew one’s ability to correctly evaluate object sizes in a virtual environment?

This paper presents the results of a study performed in order to evaluate whether a navigation technique, based on scaling the user’s avatar, impacts the user’s ability to correctly assess the size of virtual objects in a virtual environment. This study was realized during the CERN Open Days with data from 177 participants over eighteen years old. It allowed us to observe well-established phenomena, such as the impact of gender on susceptibility to motionsickness, as well as original results associated with scaling factor and avatar embodiment. We observed that the user is more prone to overestimate object sizes from the Virtual Environment when provided with an avatar, while scaling the Inter-Pupillary Distance according to the scale of the user contributes to a reduction in the overestimation of object sizes within the Virtual Environment.