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Social Density and its Impact on Behaviour in Virtual Environments

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: Virtual environments make it possible to connect and collaborate in social immersive realities, but there are still open questions about the influence of their design on the user experience. We conducted a study with 48 participants divided into groups of 6, completing conversational tasks in an instrumented virtual environment. Using a mix-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods (interviews, questionnaires, conversation and movement analysis), we compared between two virtual environment designs. We found that the social density (or effective capacity) of the designed virtual environment influenced the quality of interaction between the participants.

DOI: 10.1145/3746269.3760421

Authors: Julie Williamson, Silvia Rossi, Ross Johnstone, Irene Viola, John Williamson, Thomas Röggla, David A. Shamma, Pablo Cesar

Institutions: University of Glasgow, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Delft University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts

Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Funders: European Commission, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Awards: FUSION - Future Social Interaction in XR, Ignite the Immersive Media Sector by Enabling New Narrative Visions, G2793989030

OpenAlex ID: W4415545964

FWCI: 2.176

Cites: 17

Cited by: 2

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