There is a bilingual (English/Japanese) user survey currently making the rounds of Twitter, which intrigued me, so I took it myself, and I also decided to amplify awareness of it by posting about it here on my blog. PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT MY SURVEY!!!
According to the description of the survey:
The survey takes approximately 5 min and you can answer it only once. Please refrain from disclosing any personal information. Please share the survey with others.
Purpose: The purpose of this survey is to investigate the virtual life of social VR users that have increased in numbers since the beginning of COVID-19. Some questions focus on love and phantom senses (VR senses). The results of the survey will be published as a report in a form that does not identify the individual.
Eligibility: Users who have used social VR (VRChat, Rec Room, Neos VR, etc.) with a VR head-mounted display at least 5 times in the last year, and are English or Japanese speakers. (Please refrain from answering if your connect to social VR from desktop or phone)
Organizers: Research unit “Nem x Mila” If you have any questions, feel free to contact us on Twitter!
– Nem (@nemchan_nel) : A virtual economist and the world oldest independent VTuber (self‐professed) from Japan. HTC official VIVE ambassador.
– Mila (@BredikhinaL) : An anthropologist at the Geneva University from Switzerland.
I do find it a bit odd that there is not a university or college more strongly associated with this survey, although one of the surveyors is from Geneva University. There are no detailed instructions about data collection and any potential risks of participating, which normally are included with surveys involving human subjects; such statements tend to be the standard operating practice at most institutions of higher education, which leads me to think that this survey instrument has not been vetted by a university ethics board. It all seems rather informal (not that that’s a bad thing).
The fact that both the surveyors also give only their online Twitter handles raises a bit of a red flag to this academic librarian, too. Also, I don’t know how and when the surveyors plan to publish their survey results, other than they state, “The results of the survey will be published as a report in a form that does not identify the individual.” So it could be an academic report, or perhaps some other kind of report.
You should also be aware that the survey asks about sex as well as love in social VR! I found a few of the survey questions to be…rather interesting! 😉 So consider yourselves forewarned.
If you do want to participate in this survey, here is the link. Remember, you have to have had to have used any social VR platform (Sansar, VRChat, Rec Room, AltspaceVR, NeosVR, etc.) at least five times in a VR headset (they’re not interested in users who connect to these platforms on a desktop PC using a flatscreen monitor, or a mobile device like a cellphone or tablet).
