Private Chat in a Public Space of Metaverse Systems

TL;DR

The paper addresses the lack of private parallel conversations in public social VR environments by introducing HushHub, a private audio-channel system integrated into VRChat. It presents a design that preserves public awareness while enabling discreet private chats, implemented with Unity/UdonSharp, Photon networking, and MVC architecture, supporting seven channels and up to ten participants. User studies with 21 participants show that private chat controls increase comfort and willingness to engage with strangers, with 18/21 agreeing and 15/21 reporting increased motivation, complemented by qualitative benefits such as reduced targeting and preserved context. The findings demonstrate the viability and value of fluid private conversations in consumer VR spaces and inform privacy-aware social design for metaverse platforms.

Abstract

With the proliferation of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies and the emergence of the Metaverse, social VR applications have become increasingly prevalent and accessible to the general user base. Serving as a novel form of social media, these platforms give users a unique opportunity to engage in social activities. However, there remains a significant limitation: the inability to engage in private conversations within public social VR environments. Current interactions are predominantly public, making it challenging for users to have confidential side discussions or whispers without disrupting ongoing conversations. To address this gap, we developed Hushhub, a private chat system integrated into the popular social VR platform VRChat. Our system enables users within a shared VR space to initiate private audio conversations selectively, allowing them to maintain awareness and engagement with the broader group discussions. To evaluate the system, we conducted user studies to gather insight and feedback on the efficacy and user experience of the implemented system. The results demonstrate the value and necessity of enabling private conversations within immersive social VR environments, paving the way for richer, more nuanced social interactions.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: How to Interact with the HushHub System: 5 steps of interacting with the HushHub system. The box in step 1 is the button to join a private channel, which is later refered as the "enter button". When users suspend their controller upon the button, a label showing the channel number will appear to the user. Step 2 shows the visual effect when a user click an enter button to join a private channel. The visual effect is only visible to the user initiating the chat. Step 3 shows what it looks like within a private channel: a UI referred as the "following UI" in the main text will always appear above user's left controller, representing that the user is in a private channel. Step 4 shows the exit button and labels which will only appear when a user in private channel hold the "Grab" button in the left controller. Step 5 shows the particle visual effects when the user interact with the exit button.
• Figure 2: Class Diagram of HushHub System.
• Figure 3: Factors contributing to participants' discomfort when speaking to strangers in public in VRChat.
• Figure 4: Review on having control over who can hear the participants (upper graph) and whether private conversation system is helpful (lower graph).
• Figure 5: Comfort Level on talking to strangers in two scenarios, 1 being very uncomfortable, 5 being very comfortable. The upper graph shows the comfort level when speaking to strangers in public in reality with Median = 3 and IQR = 2.5; the lower grpha shows the comfort level when speaking to strangers in VRChat public space with Median = 4 and IQR = 2. A paired t-test ($\alpha$ = 0.05) was conducted using the two graphs