2024/04/23 by Devin Tebbe, Tebbe, Devin, Meryem Barkallah +5
Arts and Humanities · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Cultural and Historical Studies #Diverse Topics in Contemporary Research #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) #Innovation in Digital Healthcare Systems
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2405.05914
openalex publication_date 2024/04/23 · openalex created_date 2024/05/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Virtual reality (VR) dating introduces novel opportunities for romantic interactions, but it also raises concerns about new harms that typically occur separately in traditional dating apps and general-purpose social VR environments. Given the subjectivity in which VR dating experiences can be considered harmful it is imperative to involve user stakeholders in anticipating harms and formulating preventative designs. Towards this goal with conducted participatory design workshops with 17 stakeholders identified as women and/or LGBTQIA+; demographics that are at elevated risk of harm in online dating and social VR. Findings reveal that participants are concerned with two categories of harm in VR dating: those that occur through the transition of interaction across virtual and physical modalities, and harms stemming from expectations of sexual interaction in VR.