In VR, as in real life, personal space matters. Personal space is “the physical space immediately surrounding someone, into which encroachment can feel threatening or uncomfortable”¹. The amount of space that any individual considers “theirs” can vary considerably. When I lived in the Netherlands I found the Dutch had a considerably smaller personal bubble than I was used to as a New Zealander. I suspect this was due to the wildly different population densities between the two countries.
As a general rule of thumb 0.5m is a good minimum level to start with. This sort of space between the user and any GameObject will make players feel comfortable that nothing is “in their face”. Unless you want them too of course. As always developing an understanding of your audience as part of your process helps inform what is and isn’t important in your VR experience.
- For more information on personal space see Proxemics on Wikipedia