Socially Late, Virtually Present: The Effects of Transforming Asynchronous Social Interactions in Virtual Reality

Social Virtual Reality (VR) typically entails users interacting in real time. However, asynchronous Social VR presents the possibility of combining the convenience of asynchronous communication with the high presence of VR. Because the tools to easily record and replay VR social interactions are fairly new, scholars have not yet examined how users perceive asynchronous VR social interactions, and how nonverbal transformations of recorded interactions influence user behavior. In this work, we study nonverbal transformations of group interactions around proxemics and gaze and present results from an exploratory user study (N=128) investigating their effects. We found that the combination of spatial accommodation and added gaze increases social presence, perceived attention, and mutual gaze. Results also showed an inverse relationship between interpersonal distance and perceived levels of dominance and threat of the recorded group. Finally, we outline implications for educators and virtual meeting organizers to incorporate these transformations into real-world scenarios.