Developing a Framework for Designing Augmentations of Social Touch in Multiuser Virtual Reality

Abstract

We align with current academic tendencies to think of virtual social interaction beyond replicating physical reality and propose a design systematization for a guided conceptualization and evaluation of augmented virtual social touch. By augmenting social touch, we refer to stimuli accompanying virtual avatar-avatar collisions, e.g., particle effects, sounds, or vibrations. Further, we share impressions of first prototypical implementations focusing on visual augmentations and define future research directions.