Artificial Locomotion Types
Artificial locomotion in VR has multiple forms. Each form occurs either when there’s user input or when the virtual environment acts on the user’s avatar. In both cases, the camera will move. In this section, you’ll learn about the most common forms of artificial locomotion so you know how and why users expect the camera to move.
Avatar movement is when the user moves a character using some combination of thumbstick, button, headset, motion controllers, or gameplay states. This is the locomotion method used by a large majority of VR games today. It’s how people move through any first-person game where they are in direct control of their speed, direction of movement, and orientation of the camera at all times.
Scripted movement is when the virtual camera moves along a predefined path of motion. Sometimes, but not always, the orientation of the camera is part of this movement. A few examples of scripted movement include roller coasters, theme park rides, trains, and cinematic camera moves.
With steering movement, the user is controlling artificial motion that continues to move without continuous input, such as driving a car. Typically, this kind of movement has inertia and momentum. Unlike avatar movement, steering movement prevents immediate starts, stops, or changes in direction. Examples include flight simulators and driving games.
Environmental movement is when movement occurs as a byproduct of where the user is, what they’re doing, or what else is going on in the virtual world. Examples include:
- Falling off a ledge
- Moving platforms or elevators
- Explosion or other forces that move the player
- Being pushed by a car
- Being pushed by an NPC
- Sinking into water
A teleport is an event that leads to a sudden change in the user’s perspective. The additional benefit of teleportation is that unlike other types of movement, they are not always a form of continuous movement. This can be helpful for people sensitive to the side effects of vection, since teleportation can prevent vection entirely.
You can integrate teleportation into your design in a variety of ways, such as:
- Player-controlled teleports, where the user selects the destination within legal game space or from predefined destinations.
- Teleports to dynamic locations determined by gameplay mechanics. Damaged Core uses this approach, as moving through the map is a side effect of taking over nearby enemy robots and having the camera shift to the new host robot.
- Automatic teleports controlled by game logic. These teleports are often used to move users during major transitions or narrative events, which can disorient users if they aren’t expecting it.
World pulling is when the user is stationary until they grab some point in the world and pull or push it. This action shifts the perspective as the world moves to follow the push or pull motion. A few examples include rock climbing, ladders, wall scaling, and zero-gravity movement.
- For a list of additional VR locomotion techniques you could use, see