Meta tells the developers that the ideal VR session using today’s hardware is between 20-40 minutes long, and explains that reasoning.
In a blog post for developers, the company explains that the session must be “long enough to achieve a satisfactory amount of advancement,” but not as long as they encounter “the current form factor limits that allow people to stay on their headsets continuously.”
“In general, it’s best to build a VR game optimized for the 20-40 minute ‘Goldilocks’ zone. This means that users do not have to choose to “quit in the middle of something” or push themselves beyond the comfort level. ”
The session is shorter than 20 minutes, and meta should not justify friction wearing the headset. Specifically, it does not provide sufficient “progress, engagement, or entertainment” to validate any decisions involved in VR, such as clearing physical spaces or wearing a headset and controller.
Meanwhile, a session that has been dragged for more than 40 minutes will force the user to “choose whether to quit in the middle of something or push yourself beyond the level of comfort.”
According to Meta, most quest sessions are under 40 minutes, and longer sessions are “special occasions.”
This is primarily due to limitations on the current hardware form factor, explains Meta. Given the weight of about half a kilogram of a quest headset today, longer sessions can be physically uncomfortable. And current optics (particularly the cheapest quest 3 Fresnel lenses should be careful) can cause eye strain in longer sessions.
This connects this to motion sickness in titles that use artificial exercises and the desire to keep “majority” of users in their headset for more than 40 minutes or to want them to.
However, this does not mean that the gameplay loop is 20-40 minutes, but there is no metastress.
The company recommends a 10-20 minute gameplay loop, allowing users to choose to complete the loop at least once, get satisfied and run it again.
Here are seven meta recommendations to developers about how to build a 20-40 minute Goldilocks Zone.
1. Realise the core expectations of the game within the first 20 minutes of the experience.
• Avoid long tutorials and texts that can get in the way that provide this promise in time. Use the reactive or “just-in-time” tutorial that is only displayed when players need to teach the skills they need.
•Incorporate as much “education” as possible into your real-life experience and build early goals or levels around the mechanics you want to teach early.
• Users start with some short goals (e.g. 5-10 minutes) and provide quick wins during learning. Foresees long-term goals to give players a reason to return.
• Gradually teaches user controls and gameplay mechanics as part of an initial goal or loop.2. Focus on short loops and objectives (10-20 minutes) that chain into sessions of more than 20 minutes.
• Create a complete session that loops together through the short progression loop of the chain, allowing the user to play as long (or short) as they want. This looks different across game genres:
•Round-based multiplayer game: Matches (consisting of multiple rounds) must be playable within 20 minutes. The player can then choose to queue up for another match or take a break.
• Single-player Game: A sense of accomplishment and a clear next step, allowing you to complete your level or goal within 20 minutes.3. Building regular breaks every 10-15 minutes:
• Players can complete non-headset-related tasks (bathroom breaks, drinking drinks, talking to someone in the house) without completing the session.
• Breaks have been shown to improve session satisfaction when engagement is not disruptive (e.g. pause content, round it back, break between loops, etc.).
• Breaks do not reset comfort and should not be used as a substitute for a satisfying end of the session.4. Build a feature that allows you to easily exit and return later:
•I’m sure with regular AutoSave players can pick up where they left off.
•Please see the player how long it has been since the last Save/AutoSave.
• Provides information about progress towards the purpose or next checkpoint, allowing players to decide whether to take a break or not.
• It can be easily picked up from where you left off to clearly remind players of the next checkpoint or objective thing.5. Adjust the repeat quest/reward system to the appropriate timeline.
• Daily quests should be completely complicated within 20 minutes. Additional quests should provide players with more time to earn them (for example, provide users with a week to complete multiple quests).
•Weekly quests must include checkpoints or multiple small quests so that users can make progress in multiple sessions.
• Avoid very short mobile style quests that promote short check-in. VR sessions require a high return per session. Check-in (e.g. login reward) must be paired with longer engagements (e.g. login rewards as part of your weekly quest list).6. If you’re building for the world, consider cross-screen compatibility with the Horizon mobile app.
• Balance the need for short time frames (5-8 minutes) on mobile devices with the desire for a more immersive experience on other platforms.
• Build a loop where you can consider quests or tasks that are more suitable for VR or mobile and switch people as needed.7. Entertainmentmake sure that users can easily continue or drop options to pick up where they left off.
• Saves the current state so that users can easily resume.
• Ensures persistence between sessions.
• Launching the app encourages users to resume partially viewed content.
Includes simple pause, rewind and reset functions in case the user is interrupted.
At the end of the post, Meta points out that ideal session length may expand in both future directions as form factors change and change. The friction required to wear a headset will decrease and the comfort of the headset will increase. But for now, developers will want to build it for the hardware that exists today.
