VTuber Virtual Girl Nem (Independent) and Liudmila Bredikhina (PhD student at the University of Malta) gave an online talk titled “LIVING AS VIRTUAL CHARACTERS: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE ACADEMIA AND METAVERSE NATIVES” at the University of Illinois VR Club Academic Forum on February 23, 2024 (PST).
In this presentation, we will demonstrate about life in the Metaverse and introduce the Social VR Lifestyle Survey 2023, a large-scale survey analyzing 2,000 Metaverse users from all over the world. Various discussions were held mainly on the differences in the avatar culture of VR communities in different countries, referring to actual experiences and data from the Social VR Lifestyle Survey 2023 in Japan (Nem), Europe (Mila), and the United States (University of Illinois VR Club members) respectively.
- In terms of the (apparent) gender of avatars, female avatars are the most popular (63-75%), regardless of region. However, asexual avatars have a certain share (15%) in the U.S.
- In terms of avatar types, “Humanoid” avatars, such as bishojo avatars, are slightly more popular in Japan (46%) than in other regions. In the U.S., “Sub-human” avatars that include animal-like fantasy elements are slightly more popular than in other regions (51%).
The content of this lecture is intended to spark an international discussion on VR avatar culture, and the archive of the speakers is available free of charge on the YouTube channel of the University of Illinois VR Club.
VNOS
(P2y.EN)
