Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays allow designers to work in embodied ways within virtual environments. Yet despite growing industry interest, little is known about how VR supports or constrains 3D design workflows, leaving questions about its practical value. We explored the experiences and workflows of using head-mounted displays for 3D design through a 12-week study with 55 senior design students. Participants completed questionnaires, produced design projects, and kept journals, which we analyzed. Our results show that VR is viewed as a powerful design tool, where embodiment and spatial interaction underscore design as an immersive experience in its own right. VR excels in freehand design and sketching, but struggles with precision and complexity. However, VR can flexibly fit into broader workflows, where designers move fluently between VR and non-VR tools and activities. We present considerations for integrating VR into design processes, particularly how VR integrates with traditional 3D design tools and activities like sketching.

Although Social Virtual Reality (SVR) affordances are designed to enable embodied social activities and interactions within virtual environments, the ways that users perceive and interpret these affordances can shape how SVR platforms are used and experienced. In this study, we examined the design and use of SVR affordances based on qualitative survey data from 100 SVR users. We observed that user practices diverge in important ways from intended designs, adding complexity to conventional interpretations of SVR platforms as embodied social environments. This research highlights dynamic user behaviour in which users interpret and reconfigure the affordances of SVR platforms, ranging from asocial use cases to actions that reflect the current limits of embodied communication. We contribute findings that may improve SVR design by revealing opportunities to foreground user needs and expectations, leveraging both the designed possibilities of SVR and the interpretations of those possibilities.

Task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs), colloquially referred to as mind-wandering or daydreaming, are phenomena that can interfere with attention and focus, but are also associated with mental health, creativity, and learning. In digital games, it is unclear how players experience game-unrelated thoughts (GUTs), whether GUTs should be encouraged by game designers, or how it may impact player experience. We ran an initial study to confirm whether GUTs are common (50 of 100 participants reported experiencing them). We then collected 840 minutes of gameplay data from 12 participants playing games they: (1) found relaxing, (2) lost track of time in, and (3) spent most hours playing. Eye-tracking data and experience sampling were used to contextualize a phenomenological analysis of gameplay data. We identified four themes encompassing gameplay, GUTs, and gaze behaviour: these provide a foundation for future research and game design incorporating GUTs.

With the increasing availability of consumer virtual reality (VR) devices for personal and recreational use, the domestic contexts of VR design are increasingly important. Given that much of the current interaction design research for VR is conducted in lab-based settings, there is a need for design considerations that engage with the complexities of these real-world spaces. We present an analysis of visual data (e.g., GIFs, videos, photographs) collected from a manual search of Reddit posts that show “play spaces” and other home-based contexts of VR. Our findings offer insight into the diverse and dynamic characteristics of VR spaces, with set-ups ranging from bedrooms to garages, and with the people, objects, impediments, and affordances of individual spaces demonstrating a variety of ways that VR is used in the home. We conclude by discussing directions for future interaction design research that seeks to incorporate physical actions and environments while also engaging with the complex realities of domestic VR.

In interactive story games, players make decisions that advance and modify the unfolding story. In many cases, these decisions have a moral component. Examining decision-making in these games illuminates whether players mobilize their real-life morality to make in-game decisions and what impact this has in both the game world and real life. Using mixed-methods consisting of semi-structured interviews and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ30), we collected data from 19 participants who played the game Detroit: Become Human. We analyzed how participants applied their real-life morals toward in-game decisions using thematic analysis and statistical analysis of the MFQ30 results. Qualitative findings indicate that participants mobilize their moral intuitions to make in-game decisions and how much participants cared about their game characters influenced their choices. We contribute a better understanding of how players react to moral dilemmas in interactive story games for game designers to help them improve player experience.

While multiple studies suggest that female-identified participants are more likely to experience cybersickness in virtual reality (VR), our systematic review of 71 eligible VR publications (59 studies and 12 surveys) pertaining to gender and cybersickness reveals a number of confounding factors in study design (e.g., a variety of technical specifications, tasks, content), a lack of demographic data, and a bias in participant recruitment. Our review shows an ongoing need within VR research to more consistently include and report on women’s experiences in VR to better understand the gendered possibility of cybersickness. Based on the gaps identified in our systematic review, we contribute study design recommendations for future work, arguing that gender considerations are necessary at every stage of VR study design, even when the study is not ‘about’ gender.

Recent efforts to diversify participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) activities through informal learning environments, such as hackathons and makerspaces, confirm a real desire for inclusion among potential female participants. However, understanding factors that may contribute to longer-term, sustainable diversification of such groups remains a challenge. In this paper, we present the results of a mixed-methods study of two microcosms of making: game development, and quilting. Our findings reveal parallel structures within these groups despite being highly skewed towards male or female participation, respectively. Our results shed light on attitudes, behaviours, and experiences indicating that similar desires for wider community support among other factors exist in both groups, but these needs are not satisfied in the STEM context. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings as opportunities for rethinking how we design the environments that are meant to support design itself, considering the role of technology in these spaces, and prioritizing nurturing the development of the maker community beyond the maker space.

We present Tunnel Divisions, an interactive musical installation designed for ephemeral interaction in public spaces. Informed by concepts from cultural and media studies along with existing literature on interactive public displays, we designed the installation as an intervention meant for the monotonous parts of everyday life. Our demonstration uses low-cost sensors and musical theory to create a generative sound composition unique to the particular space and the people moving through it. By experiencing the installation, we hope to promote critical thinking about the nature and form of interaction with public spaces.