RemoteChess: Enhancing Older Adults' Social Connectedness via Designing a Virtual Reality Chinese Chess (Xiangqi) Community

TL;DR

This study investigates whether a VR community built around a culturally meaningful activity can enhance social connectedness among older adults. It combines an elicitation formative study, a two-scene VR design (Cultural Corridor and Chess Table) with asymmetric roles, and a user study (n=18) to evaluate social connectedness and interaction using SUS, SCS, and interaction metrics. Key findings show increased comfort with others and greater engagement in the Chess Table scene, with design guidelines emphasizing familiar settings, multiple engagement levels, and social catalysts. The work advances elder-centered VR design by demonstrating how culture and shared activities can foster remote social bonds and well-being.

Abstract

The decline of social connectedness caused by distance and physical limitations severely affects older adults' well-being and mental health. While virtual reality (VR) is promising for older adults to socialize remotely, existing social VR designs primarily focus on verbal communication (e.g., reminiscent, chat). Actively engaging in shared activities is also an important aspect of social connection. We designed RemoteChess, which constructs a social community and a culturally relevant activity (i.e., Chinese chess) for older adults to play while engaging in social interaction. We conducted a user study with groups of older adults interacting with each other through RemoteChess. Our findings indicate that RemoteChess enhanced participants' social connectedness by offering familiar environments, culturally relevant social catalysts, and asymmetric interactions. We further discussed design guidelines for designing culturally relevant social activities in VR to promote social connectedness for older adults.

Figures (7)

• Figure 1: Example scenes from online videos showing the patterns and preferences of older adults while playing Chinese chess: (a) Older adults gather in outdoor environments (e.g., public parks) to have Chinese chess experience; (b) Chess spectators are always trying to help; (c) Places where older adults play Chinese chess are usually in open outdoor environments.
• Figure 2: This figure shows two main scenes of RemoteChess. (a) An exhibition of Chinese chess-related painting in Scene 1; (b) Two users watching and discussing the cultural exhibition; (c) Chess player’s view; (d) Chess spectator’s view.
• Figure 3: Some example scenes of RemoteChess VR community. (a) The virtual environment of a park; (b) Non-interactive Chinese chess avatars in the park; (c) Scene 1 - cultural corridor; (d) Scene 2 - chess table.
• Figure 4: User study procedure. (a) Be assigned to three rooms for background interviews and VR introduction. (b) Experience two VR scenes in RemoteChess and interact with other participants. (c) Complete two questionnaires and be interviewed about experiences and perceptions in RemoteChess.
• Figure 5: Participants’ ratings of the Social Connectedness Scale (SCS) based on honrizontal stacked bar charts. Participants rated the Social Connectedness Scale (SCS) across Scene 1 and Scene 2 using three dimensions: (a) inclusion of others, (b) belonging to others, and (c) comfort with others. This figure confirmed that RemoteChess enhanced their overall social connectedness. Each subplot is composed of a horizontal bar chart to show the percentages of each rating score.