A longitudinal study of small group interaction in social virtual reality

Now that high-end consumer phones can support immersive virtual reality, we ask whether social virtual reality is a promising medium for supporting distributed groups of users. We undertook an exploratory in-the-wild study using Samsung Gear VR headsets to see how existing social groups that had become geographically dispersed could use VR for collaborative activities. The study showed a strong propensity for users to feel present and engaged with group members. Users were able to bring group behaviors into the virtual world. To overcome some technical limitations, they had to create novel forms of interaction. Overall, the study found that users experience a range of emotional states in VR that are broadly similar to those that they would experience face-to-face in the same groups. The study highlights the transferability of existing social group dynamics in VR interactions but suggests that more work would need to be done on avatar representations to support some intimate conversations.

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