User Experience of Different Groups in Social VR Applications: An Empirical Study Based on User Reviews

Social virtual reality (VR) applications provide a diverse and evolving ecosystem for different groups to socialize in VR. Understanding how people explore social VR applications is crucial for VR developers, such as designing social VR content. Previous work has focused on interviewing participants to study the user experience (UX) of social VR. However, the potential value of user reviews of social VR platforms is largely unexplored. In this article, we collect 105 757 user reviews of nine social VR applications from two digital distribution platforms (Steam and Oculus) to study the impact of social VR on people by in-depth analysis of reviews related to avatars, harassment, and physical reactions of different groups. We observe that players prefer avatar customization, and social VR applications are suitable places for some groups, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ). However, there are also many complaints from players about harassment and bullying in these social VR applications. Our findings highlight potential design implications of social VR applications for creating more friendly and fulfilling social VR experiences for users.