Systematically Conceptualizing Social VR Research – A Design-oriented Framework

Social Virtual Reality with its focus on virtual connectivity among users is an emerging technology and fundamental element of visions such as the metaverse. However, scholars argue that comprehensive definitions and integrated theoretical conceptualizations of social VR are still missing. Due to the many modalities and degrees of freedom of virtual environments, such frameworks are needed for orienting explanatory research into social virtual phenomena and for designing social VR systems. To fill this conceptual gap, we conceive social VR as a designed environment and methodically develop a theoretical scaffolding drawing on conceptual building blocks of Design Science Research methodology, such as the explication of purpose and constructs. From this perspective, we define key terms and identify Goffman’s interactionist theory of social interaction as a suitable conceptual basis of a theoretical four level framework that offers guidance for the systematic design and analysis of social VR phenomena in research and practice.