Understanding Phantom Tactile Sensation on Commercially Available Social Virtual Reality Platforms

Phantom tactile sensation (PTS) is usually experienced by participants in laboratory settings with the assistance and supervision of professionals. Extensive reports from users demonstrate they experience PTS on commercially available virtual reality (VR) platforms. We gathered and analyzed 2885 posts by 1408 users to understand how users obtain PTS and how they evaluate their PTS experience. We observed that users experience PTS in three ways: 1) starting to feel it naturally, 2) intentionally developing the ability to experience PTS, and 3) feeling it under substance use. Users perceive the sensation differently. Many people perceive PTS as positive, enhancing their immersion and bringing people closer. While other users consider it a negative experience as it exacerbates harassment issues, or the sensation itself is negative, even painful. We discuss the perceived causes of PTS and how social VR conditions users' evaluation of their PTS experience. We further reflect on PTS from the perspective of the risk of VR use in real-life scenarios. Finally, we provide design implications on employing PTS to enhance users' VR experience and reduce the negatives PTS brings.