Building Proactive and Instant-Reactive Safety Designs to Address Harassment in Social Virtual Reality
Journal:
arXiv
Published Date:
Apr 8, 2025
Abstract
Social Virtual Reality (VR) games offer immersive socialization experiences
but pose significant challenges of harassment. Common solutions, such as
reporting and moderation, address harassment after it happens but fail to
prevent or stop harassment in the moment. In this study, we explore and design
proactive and instant-reactive safety designs to mitigate harassment in social
VR. Proactive designs prevent harassment from occurring, while instant-reactive
designs minimize harm during incidents. We explore three directions for design:
user-initiated personal bubbles, clarifying social norms, and encouraging
bystander intervention. Through an iterative process, we first conducted a
formative interview study to determine design goals for making these features
effective, fit user needs, and robust to manipulation. We then implemented
Puffer, an integrated safety system that includes a suite of proactive and
instant-reactive features, as a social VR prototype. From an evaluation using
simulated scenarios with participants, we find evidence that Puffer can help
protect players during emergencies, foster prosocial norms, and create more
positive social interactions. We conclude by discussing how system safety
features can be designed to complement existing proactive and instant-reactive
strategies, particularly for people with marginalized identities.
