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Social virtual reality (social VR) is a shared, interactive 3D environment where people in different places meet and communicate through embodied representations, usually avatars. People commonly access these environments with VR head-mounted displays, but a headset is not an established requirement for every service described as social VR.
What defines social VR?
Three features sit at the center of the term: multiple people interact, they share a virtual 3D space, and the environment supports a sense of presence. In a 2022 article, researchers describe social VR as 3D spaces, primarily accessed with VR head-mounted displays, where geographically distant users interact through avatars. Those avatars may reproduce users’ movements in real time, making interaction feel embodied rather than limited to text or a profile image. 2022 definition of social VR
Jie Li and Pablo Cesar describe it as a type of VR system in which multiple users join a collaborative virtual environment and communicate, usually through visual and audio cues. Participants may appear as computer-generated avatars or as representations based on live capture. Li and Cesar, “Social virtual reality (VR) applications and user experiences”
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A 2024 Association for Information Systems conference paper proposes a broader formulation: “Social Virtual Reality is an immersive, presence-based interaction paradigm where connected actors communicate through a virtual (three-dimensional) environment that can be experienced, shared, and interacted with as if it were real.” This is that paper’s proposed definition, not a universally settled standard. 2024 Association for Information Systems paper
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How is social VR different from a virtual world or online game?
The labels overlap, but they are not interchangeable. A multi-user virtual world or multiplayer game can provide a shared setting without the immersive access, embodied interaction, or presence emphasized in definitions of social VR. A screen-based environment is not automatically social VR just because several people can interact in it.
| Dimension | Social VR emphasis | Other online environments may emphasize |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Immersive VR head-mounted displays are common in descriptions. | Ordinary screen access. |
| Representation | Embodied avatars or representations based on live capture. | Profiles, text handles, or minimally embodied characters. |
| Interaction | Real-time communication in a shared space, often using visual and audio cues. | Feeds, text exchanges, or conventional video interaction. |
| Presence | Participants may feel located in the virtual space and with other people; neither experience is guaranteed. | Presence may be less central to the interaction. |
These are distinguishing tendencies, not a checklist that every product must satisfy in exactly the same way. The term is broader than any single platform, and definitions have differing scopes. Discussion of distinctions among virtual environments
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What does “presence” mean in social VR?
Spatial presence
Spatial presence is the feeling of being located in the virtual environment. Immersion and interaction design can contribute to it, but using VR technology does not guarantee that a person will feel present there.
Social presence
Social presence is the felt sense that another person is there with you. It is an experience that social VR may support, not another name for the technology itself. The two forms of presence are related but distinct. Frontiers systematic review of social presence
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A 2018 systematic review in Frontiers in Robotics and AI examined 233 findings from 152 studies on factors predicting social presence and its implications. That count describes the review’s evidence base, not the number of users or the size of a market. Frontiers systematic review of social presence
Does social VR require a headset?
Head-mounted displays are a common access method in academic definitions, but the available definitions do not establish that every social VR service requires one. The useful distinction is what the environment enables—shared 3D interaction through embodied representations and a sense of presence—rather than assuming one device is mandatory.
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A VR headset is the relevant enabling hardware in descriptions, but the definitions do not establish a particular model or device compatibility. They also do not show that social VR always creates strong presence or improves social connection.
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- It describes a way for people in different locations to interact in a shared virtual 3D environment.
- Participants are often represented by avatars, though live-captured representations are also described.
- It commonly involves immersive VR access, but not every multi-user digital space qualifies and a headset requirement is not universal.
- Social presence is a possible user experience, not an automatic result or synonym for social VR.
- “Virtual world,” “metaverse,” multiplayer application, and social VR should not be treated as interchangeable terms.
For scholarly background on interaction in shared virtual environments, Ralph Schroeder’s Being There Together: Social Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments (Oxford University Press, 2010) provides a broader treatment of the subject. Oxford University Press book page
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