Hi, my name is Lingyuan Li.
In this video I will present our paper “We cried on each other's shoulders”: How LGBTQ+
individuals experience social support in social virtual reality on behalf of my co-authors,
Dr. Guo Freeman, Kelsea Schulenburg and Dane Acena.
Many LGBTQ+ individuals often lack offline social networks to discover, understand, and
support gender and sexual exploration.
Therefore, various online social spaces play an increasingly important role in supporting
LGBTQ+ individuals’ identity formation and presentation, community building, and information
seeking, including live streaming platforms, social media, and multiplayer online games.
However, traditional online technologies still reveal several challenges for providing LGBTQ+
individuals with effective social support.
First, most online social spaces still rely on traditional computer-mediated communication
for LGBTQ+ individuals to exchange and share social support, which is not seen as a viable
venue for the provision of social support due to limited emotional and social cues,
the inability to communicate material support, and the absence of physical presence; second,
social support for LGBTQ+ individuals through traditional online technologies can still
be felt far less satisfactory and effective compared to tangible offline support, as how
much social support one feels is closely related to the medium through which one receives such
support.
Therefore, we focus on LGBTQ+ individuals’ experiences of social support in one nuanced
online social space - social Virtual Reality.
Social VR platforms offer users a more immersive space for interaction and allow them to interact
via synchronous voice, embodied avatars through full-body tracking, and more customized self-presentation
through their virtual avatars.
These unique features of social VR seem to attract a growing number of LGBTQ+ users.
In hopes of capturing a more comprehensive image of LGBTQ+ users’ unique engagement
in social VR and designing more inclusive and supportive social VR spaces in the future,
in this paper we focus on investigating first, the types of social support LGBTQ+ users have
experienced in social VR; and second, novel ways in which social VR fosters such social
support for LGBTQ+ users.
We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 29 social VR users who self-identify
as LGBTQ+.
We then analyzed our interview data qualitatively by using thematic analysis.
First, we summarized 4 main types of social support LGBTQ+ users experience in social
VR.
LGBTQ+ individuals are able to experience network and emotional support by getting to
know and building social bonds with others in social VR.
They also see social VR as a valuable venue to exchange important information and life
lessons regarding how to better approach and manage their LGBTQ+ identities both online
and offline.
Our LGBTQ+ participants also gradually build self-confidence and achieve self-improvement
by using social VR as a sandbox to experiment, share, and affirm diverse facets of their
identities and lived experiences with others, especially in a way that they would otherwise
not be able to do offline or in other traditional online spaces.
They especially highlight how they leverage technological uniqueness of social VR to seek
and share these four types of social support.
The broad spectrum of both verbal and non-verbal communication modalities in social VR enhance
the level of joint involvement and user connectedness in the same space, creating a strong awareness
of co-presence similar to face-to-face interaction despite being online.
In this way, this unique sense of co-presence can directly facilitate LGBTQ+ users’ experiences
of network, emotional, and informational support in social VR.
Unlike traditional social media applications/sites or online gaming/virtual worlds where users
control their on-screen avatars through a keyboard, mouse, or joystick, LGBTQ+individuals
can share their emotions and feelings through real-time simulated physical actions in social
VR.
To them, this novelty becomes a more realistic and "embodied" way to demonstrate, exchange,
and experience their support for each other, especially network support and emotional support.
And by hosting and attending highly simulated mundane events, LGBTQ+ social VR users are
able to seek network support and get informational support by finding each other, building a
sense of community, and fostering emotional bonds in a natural and immersive way similar
to attending equivalent offline events but with reduced limitations and lower risks.
Through these immersive events, it is also possible to establish a supportive and accepting
culture for LGBTQ+ in social VR.
As a result, LGBTQ+ users may experience esteem support by achieving an affirmation of their
self-worth and self-perception of their identities.
Our findings highlight social VR introduces new mechanisms to empower LGBTQ+ individuals
and help address challenges and limitations of traditional technology-mediated social
support for LGBTQ+ individuals.
Collectively, understanding these new mechanisms emphasizes such support as a combination of
first, a more physicalized and embodied nature; second, a natural and direct translation to
tangible offline support; and third, a particular focus on fostering safe, comfortable, and
non-judgemental online culture.
we are also well aware of new concerns embedded in this seemingly overly positive image that
require further reflection and investigation.
First, there is a growing concern that the very features that help LGBTQ+ users experience
more natural, embodied, and realistic social support in social VR can also lead to harassment
that feels more realistic compared to other online social platforms
Second, the socioeconomic barrier may leave many LGBTQ+ users behind, especially those
with intersectional identities.
It seems certain types of LGBTQ+ users, who often tend to be white, financially stable,
and educated seem to be able to seek and experience social support more so than others.
We especially propose two equally important principles at the high level for rethinking
more supportive and inclusive social VR design.
First, we emphasize the necessity to establish appropriate social norms and expectations
about the spectrum of gender and sexuality identities and expressions in future social
VR spaces and to educate all social VR users to shape a diverse, dynamic, and inclusive
social atmosphere.
The second principle points to specific designs to promote mutual respect, to express in-depth
feelings or more complicate emotions for all users, and to further facilitate online
and offline support transformation.
Thank you for watching.
We want to thank our participants and the national science foundation for supporting
this research.