Effective collaboration in Virtual Reality depends on users' ability to accurately perceive the affordances of others within a shared space. This paper presents the first empirical investigation of how people judge others' reaching capabilities in Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs). We examined whether observers can reliably estimate the maximum horizontal reach distance of virtual actors, how different actor representations influence these perceptual judgments, and whether calibration feedback can improve estimation accuracy. Participants (N=35) judged the reachability of objects for virtual actors across three visual fidelity conditions: high-fidelity, low-fidelity, and end-effector-only representations. Results demonstrate that users can successfully estimate others' horizontal reachability in IVEs, though with overestimation. Calibration through action feedback significantly improved estimation accuracy, with overestimation decreasing across trials. Visual fidelity showed no main effect on initial reachability judgments but significantly affected postcalibration performance, with low-fidelity representations demonstrating significantly better calibration outcomes compared to high-fidelity avatars, while end-effector-only representations showed no significant difference from either condition. The findings contribute to the social perception literature in Virtual Reality (VR) and to provide design guidelines for avatar systems in collaborative virtual environments, where spatial coordination and shared action planning are critical.

As virtual reality (VR) technology continues to gain traction as a powerful tool for persuasion and marketing, its application in immersive sales environments has become increasingly relevant. VR’s ability to simulate realistic interactions allows for novel approaches to influencing consumer behavior, particularly through the use of interactive Virtual Humans (VHs). In this study, we investigate the effects of user and virtual human age and gender on persuasion and social influence, via various social psychological factors such as brand attitude, interpersonal attraction, source credibility, and presence. In the process, we conducted a 3 (virtual agent age) × 2 (virtual agent gender) × 3 (module topic) multi-factorial design (N=45). The study included two agent gender conditions, namely gender-matched and gender-mismatched with the user, assigned in a between-subjects manner, and three agent age conditions, namely (1) young adult (20-39), (2) middle-aged adult (40-59), and (3) older adult (60-79). Our findings indicate that the age and gender of virtual humans significantly influence their persuasiveness and social impact, which varies based on the user’s own age and gender. Specifically, virtual humans of a different gender from the user may exhibit higher levels of persuasion and social influence. Furthermore, female and older users appear to be more susceptible to influence compared to male and younger users. Our findings provide novel, critical insights for designing more effective virtual sales strategies and tailoring persuasive technologies to diverse user profiles, thus filling a vital gap in understanding the interaction between user and agent characteristics in virtual environments.1