The human face and eyes provide crucial conversational cues about a person’s focus of attention. In virtual reality applications, avatar faces are typically simplified, and eye movements often neglected. This paper explores how VR users perceive the look-at direction of other avatars and estimates the range within which an avatar's averted gaze goes unnoticed. Through two-alternative forced choice experiments, we investigate different gaze offsets to quantify thresholds for perceived gaze aversion across three conditions: gaze side (left/right), stimulus duration, and avatar distance. Additionally, we assess the impact of averted gaze on social presence during interactions with an embodied conversational agent in a social game. A user study (N=40) revealed that social presence is significantly affected by averted gaze when noticed, and that detection thresholds are particularly impacted by stimuli duration and interactions between side and distance. Our findings provide a foundation for understanding gaze perception in social virtual reality.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3714041
Designers of storytelling experiences in virtual reality (VR) can take advantage of the medium's realism and immersion to communicate their intentions. However, interaction freedom comes with unpredictability, raising the risk of miscommunication between the experience sought by the designer and the player's interpretation. To better understand such miscommunications, we revisit Don Norman's work on stages of action to propose a model of designer-player gulfs in VR that incorporates eight classes of communication gulfs. We designed a two-phase study where 10 participants designed VR scenarios and then played scenarios created by previous participants. Through coupled structured interviews, we identified 127 issues in VR-mediated communication that were mapped to our model to understand their impact on the player's interpretation of the narrative experience. Our work provides a roadmap to identifying sources of miscommunication in VR, a first step to conceiving principles and guidelines for achieving effective communication in storytelling experiences.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713700
Navigating emotional conflicts within relationships can be challenging. People often struggle to express their emotions during a conflict, which can lead to misunderstandings and unresolved feelings. To facilitate deeper emotional expression, we developed TogetherReflect, a multi-user Virtual Reality (VR) experience designed for couples. Partners first draw their emotions related to a shared conflict in VR, allowing for individual expression and self-reflection. They then invite each other into their drawings to discuss their feelings, before drawing together on a shared canvas to reaffirm their love and commitment. Throughout this process, TogetherReflect provides prompts and guidance, aiming to foster self-reflection and communication skills. We exploratory evaluated the experience with 10 couples (n=20). Our findings indicate that TogetherReflect deepens personal emotional insights, fosters mutual understanding, and strengthens relational bonds. We highlight the potential of guided VR experiences to transform conflict resolution in intimate relationships and offer design considerations for future development.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713642
Team closeness provides the foundations of trust and communication, contributing to teams' success and viability. However, newcomers often struggle to be included in a team since incumbents tend to interact more with other existing members. Previous research suggests that online communication technologies can help team inclusion by mitigating members' perceived differences. In this study, we test how virtual reality (VR) can promote team closeness when forming teams. We conducted a between-subject experiment with teams working in-person and VR, where two members interacted first, and then a third member was added later to conduct a hidden-profile task. Participants evaluated how close they felt with their teammates after the task was completed. Our results show that VR newcomers felt closer to the incumbents than in-person newcomers. However, incumbents' closeness to newcomers did not vary across conditions. We discuss the implications of these findings and offer suggestions for how VR can promote inclusion.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3714127
The essence of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) lies in the living knowledge and skills passed down through generations. Daily practice plays a vital role in revitalizing ICH by fostering continuous learning and improvement. However, limited resources and accessibility pose significant challenges to sustaining such practice. Virtual reality (VR) has shown promise in supporting extensive skill training. Unlike technical skill training, ICH daily practice prioritizes cultivating a deeper understanding of cultural meanings and values. This study explores VR's potential in facilitating ICH daily practice through a case study of Traditional Chinese Flower Arrangement (TCFA). By investigating TCFA learners' challenges and expectations, we designed and evaluated FloraJing, a VR system enriched with cultural elements to support sustained TCFA practice. Findings reveal that FloraJing promotes progressive reflection, and continuous enhances technical improvement and cultural understanding. We further propose design implications for VR applications aimed at fostering ICH daily practice in both knowledge and skills.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713409
The decline of social connectedness caused by distance and physical limitations severely affects older adults' well-being and mental health. While virtual reality (VR) is promising for older adults to socialize remotely, existing social VR designs primarily focus on verbal communication (e.g., reminiscent, chat). Actively engaging in shared activities is also an important aspect of social connection. We designed RemoteChess, which constructs a social community and a culturally relevant activity (i.e., Chinese chess) for older adults to play while engaging in social interaction. We conducted a user study with groups of older adults interacting with each other through RemoteChess. Our findings indicate that RemoteChess enhanced participants’ social connectedness by offering familiar environments, culturally relevant social catalysts, and asymmetric interactions. We further discussed design guidelines for designing culturally relevant social activities in VR to promote social connectedness for older adults.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3714236