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Disembodied, asocial, and unreal: How users reinterpret fundamental affordances of social VR

Kukshinov, Eugene, Harley, Daniel, Szita, Kata orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-3177-9980, Mogavi, Reza Hadi, MacArthur, Cayley and Nacke, Lennart E. (2024) Disembodied, asocial, and unreal: How users reinterpret fundamental affordances of social VR. DIS '24: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference . ISSN 9798400705830

Abstract
Although Social Virtual Reality (SVR) affordances are designed to enable embodied social activities and interactions within virtual environments, the ways that users perceive and interpret these affordances can shape how SVR platforms are used and experienced. In this study, we examined the design and use of SVR affordances based on qualitative survey data from 100 SVR users. We observed that user practices diverge in important ways from intended designs, adding complexity to conventional interpretations of SVR platforms as embodied social environments. This research highlights dynamic user behaviour in which users interpret and reconfigure the affordances of SVR platforms, ranging from asocial use cases to actions that reflect the current limits of embodied communication. We contribute findings that may improve SVR design by revealing opportunities to foreground user needs and expectations, leveraging both the designed possibilities of SVR and the interpretations of those possibilities.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:Social VR, affordances, embodiment, non-verbal communication
Subjects:Computer Science > Artificial intelligence
Computer Science > Machine learning
Social Sciences > Communication
Social Sciences > Mass media
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science
DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of Communications
Publisher:Association for Computing Machinery
Official URL:https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661548
Copyright Information:Authors
ID Code:31835
Deposited On:14 Nov 2025 10:02 by Dr Kata Szita . Last Modified 14 Nov 2025 10:02
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