Virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies are escaping the “trough of disillusionment”—the lowest point of the Gartner Hype Curve that follows the “inflated peak of early expectations” (Muñoz-Saavedra, Miró-Amarante, & Domínguez-Morales, 2020). Now, at this exciting juncture, as we see stronger alignments among technology expectations, performance, penetration, and application, we are delighted to continue the Presence series of special issues—following on from issues on “Arts, Aesthetics, and Performance in Telepresence” (Jeon & Fishwick, 2017), “VR for Culture and Heritage: The Experience of Cultural Heritage with Virtual Reality” (Ch'ng, Cai, & Thwaites, 2017; Ch'ng, Cai, & Thwaites, 2018), and “Virtual and Augmented Reality for Autonomous Driving and Intelligent Vehicles” (Riener, Gabbard, & Trivedi, 2019)—with this new special issue on “User Experience and Engagement in the Reality–Virtuality Continuum.”
There has, of course, been an international step change in telepresence, virtualization, and user experience interest following the Covid-19...