The study, published by New Scientist, found that employee convenience and productivity in the metadatabase were greatly overstated. Evaluating the effects of working in VR for a week examines the effects of the long-term impact of employees working in a virtual environment and is not comforting.
The experiment involved university staff and researchers, and the test results were unexpected for many.
How did the test go?
Participants were asked to use the Chrome Remote Desktop service in a virtual desktop environment. Users used Oculus Quest 2 (Meta) VR headsets and could use Logitech K830 physical keyboards with integrated touchpad. In fact, virtual reality simulated working with a regular computer.
Even before starting the study, many participants in the experiment noted the effect of “exercise sickness” called “sub-average ease of use”, which many people experience when working with computer simulators. Two subjects had to leave the project the same day due to nausea, migraine, and anxiety.
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Those who remained worked eight hours a day with 45-minute breaks for rest and lunch. Everyone rated the experience in normal and virtual environments, with many stating that their workload increased by an average of 35%.
On average, the level of frustration increased by 42%, and anxiety – by 19%. Overall, mental state worsened by 20% – although estimates are subjective and it is not known exactly how mental state will be measured.


Experiment participants / Photograph University of Coburg, Microsoft Research, University of Cambridge
Adverse physical effects were also noted – from a 48% increase in eyestrain to a 36% reduction in VR’s ease of use. In addition, the productivity of the business process began to be subjectively evaluated as significantly lower.
The article points out that the study will help “clearly highlight existing shortcomings and identify opportunities to improve user experience when working in VR.” However, the formulation of the experiment raises more questions, because, in fact, it shows the negative impact of sudden changes in the environment and the usual tools on the business. Participants in the experiment used VR headsets as virtual monitors when you needed to create a suitable interface and toolset to work with the metadata store.