Mapping virtual reality controls to inform design of accessible user experiences.

A lack of accessible controls remains a barrier to disabled users engaging in virtual reality experiences. This paper presents a modified cognitive walkthrough of 120 virtual reality applications to identify 2,284 pairs of operant and resultant actions and creates an inventory of domain objects and their operant and resultant actions in the virtual space. This inventory captures both the form and prevalence of interactions that are expected of users in current virtual reality design. An analysis of this inventory reveals that while many barriers could be addressed by existing solutions, those options currently are not often present in current designs. Further, there are a set of barriers related to embodied controls that represent opportunities and challenges for new and innovative designs in virtual reality.