Work

Systematic Literature Review of Using Virtual Reality as a Social Platform in HCI Community

Year: 2025

Type: review

Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used as a social platform for users to interact and build connections with one another in an immersive virtual environment. Reflecting on the empirical progress in this area of study, a comprehensive review of how VR could be used to support social interaction is required to consolidate existing practices and identify research gaps to inspire future studies. In this work, we conducted a systematic review of 94 publications in the HCI field to examine how VR is designed and evaluated for social purposes. We found that VR influences social interaction through self-representation, interpersonal interactions, and interaction environments. We summarized four positive effects of using VR for socializing, which are relaxation, engagement, intimacy, and accessibility, and showed that it could also negatively affect user social experiences by intensifying harassment experiences and amplifying privacy concerns. We introduce an evaluation framework that outlines the key aspects of social experience: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and interaction experiences. According to the results, we uncover several research gaps and propose future directions for designing and developing VR to enhance social experience.

Source: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

DOI: 10.1145/3711078

Authors: Xiaoying Wei, Xiaofu Jin, Ge Lin Kan, Yukang Yan, Mingming Fan

Institutions: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), University of Rochester

Language: English

Topic: Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts

Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Department of Education of Guangdong Province

Awards: G5986009070, G9000155610