Co-presence and proxemics in shared walkable virtual environments with mixed colocation

The purpose of the experiment presented in this paper is to investigate co-presence and locomotory patterns in a walkable shared virtual environment. In particular, trajectories of users that use a walkable tracking space alone are compared to those of users who use the tracking space in pairs. Co-presence, in a sense of perception of another person being present in the same virtual space is analyzed through subjective responses and behavioral markers. The results indicate that both perception and proxemics in relation to co-located and distributed players differ. The effect on the perception is however mitigated if participants do not collide with the avatars of distributed co-players.