Gender Effects on Physical Contact in Social VR.

Despite increasing research on user perception, action, and behavior via avatars in virtual spaces, few studies exist on user behavior on social virtual reality (VR) platforms. We focus on physical contact, the most fundamental mode of human communication, and investigate the effects of gender factors on physical contact among social VR users in a virtual space. Using VRChat, a social VR platform, as a field, we collected data for 168 general users by observing their responses when a confederate approached them. We analyzed three factors: the apparent gender of the avatar of the interaction partner (2 levels: male and female), the actual gender of the interaction partner (2 levels: male and female), and whether their natural voice is used (2 levels: with and without voice). The results showed that when the actual gender of a user’s interaction partner was female, the user had more frequent and intimate physical contact, such as hugging and patting the head. In contrast, the apparent gender of the avatar of the user’s partner did not affect the frequency of physical contact. Furthermore, users had more frequent physical contact when not speaking than when speaking with their natural voice. These results suggest that the actual gender of a partner affects user behavior more than the apparent gender of the partner’s avatar.