Methods and Systems for Gaze-Based Control of Virtual Reality Media Content

An exemplary virtual reality media system presents a field of view of an immersive virtual reality world on a display screen of a media player device associated with a user. The field of view includes content of the immersive virtual reality world and dynamically changes in response to user input provided by the user as the user experiences the immersive virtual reality world. Additionally, the virtual reality media system detects that a gaze of the user is directed for a predetermined amount of time at a gaze target included within the field of view. In response to the detection, the virtual reality media system presents an interactive user interface associated with the gaze target. In some examples, the interactive user interface is presented within the field of view together with the content of the immersive virtual reality world. Corresponding methods and systems are also described.