The Influence of the Level of Detail and Interactivity of 3D Elements on UX in XR Applications

In the realm of extended reality (XR) applications, a significant challenge lies in the resource-intensive rendering of 3D models, which often demand high computational power, creating a need for optimization. However, not all elements within a 3D environment are equally important for the user experience (UX). Recognizing and effectively addressing this could greatly enhance the performance of XR applications. How can manipulating the level of detail (LOD) increase the overall quality of user interactions? It was hypothesised that there would be no significant effect on participants’ perception of the reduction of LOD for non-interactive objects, thereby forming the null hypothesis for \(H_1\) . Additionally, a second hypothesis was proposed: The reduction of LOD of non-interactive objects would not significantly affect the game enjoyment, forming the null hypothesis for \(H_2\) . A virtual reality (VR) survival game was developed in Unreal Engine to test these hypotheses. The virtual environment contained two types of objects: interactive objects (e.g., barrels and weapons) and non-interactive objects (e.g., pallets and shelves). Using interactive objects, players must defend themselves against multiple enemies. Users had to play through different conditions with a decreasing LOD of non-interactive objects and answer a post-session questionnaire. Only 5 out of 53 participants noticed a difference in quality. Furthermore, the majority of participants reported equal game satisfaction for every condition. These findings indicate that a decrease in the LOD of non-interactive objects is not significantly perceptible and does not significantly affect the UX.