Social Virtual Reality (SVR) is represented by multiple virtual collaborative online platforms that users can access via VR technologies, such as HMDs. Social VR is an intriguing newly emerging technological domain that may have numerous implications for users.

While they are supposed to afford social and embodied communication among users, in our recent study, we learnt that users do not use them as intended by designers.

We collected qualitative data from 100 SVR users. We learnt that communication in SVR is mostly vocal, complex emotions or gestures cannot be expressed. This inaccuracy of expressions may be one of the reasons why public SVR is so chaotic.

In another study (MacArthur et al. 2024) we also learnt that traditionally marginalized groups are also more targeted by the harms in SVR. While for them, it might be a relatively safe space for self-expression, for the dominant groups, SVR can be a space to exert more power than they already have, e.g., to troll or abuse others, or to play with their identities.

Collective embodiment.

In another study (Kukshinov & Nacke, 2025), we explored a seemingly new phenomenon specific to SVR, namely collective embodiment —a psychological state of being a virtual group that shares location, goals, and visual and symbolic characteristics. Closely related to the sense of social presence, it also refers to the shared feelings and sensations associated with an individual’s sense of embodiment and physical presence.

Kukshinov, E. & Nacke, L.E. (2025). Collective Embodiment, or the Social Nature of the Sense of Embodiment in Social VR. ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences, https://doi.org/10.1145/3706370.3727895