Democratic Moderation: Exploring the Use and Perception of Votekicking in Social Virtual Reality

Extensive research has focused on community-based moderation involving selected or volunteer moderators. The "votekick" system represents a democratized approach allowing all users to participate in moderation. Despite its widespread use in online gaming and social VR platforms, votekicking remains underexplored. This research studies how users use and perceive votekicking in VRChat, a leading social VR platform. Through thematic analysis of discussions from the Reddit community r/VRChat, our findings reveal that votekicking serves to cope with misconduct and enforce group-specific rules, but it also perpetuates toxicity such as materializing community-level biases. While praised for its immediacy and clear messaging against unacceptable behavior, votekicking's effectiveness is hindered by its reactive nature, consensus challenges, and decision-making complexities. This research contributes to broader discussions on the limitations and advantages of direct community involvement in moderation and suggests practical design improvements to address the challenges associated with votekicking.