Gender Differences and VR:
A Non-User Survey of What Women Want

Table of Contents

Introduction

Interest in Trying Different VR Experiences

Preferences for Interactivity

VR Genre Preferences

Game Outcome Factors

Types of Sensation

Miscellaneous

Discussion

Reactions to Comm Tech Lab VR Prototypes

References

Introduction

Today's consumer VR experiences appear to hold little appeal for the female half of the population. Demographics collected at the BattleTech Center in Chicago in 1991 indicated that 93% of the players were male. At FighterTown in 1991, the proportion was 97% (Heeter, forthcoming). Women also do not play today's video games. Although it is clear that women are not attracted to the current battle-oriented VR experiences, what women DO want from VR has received little attention. Whether from a moral imperative to enable VR to enrich the lives of both sexes, or from a financial incentive of capturing another 50% of the potential marketplace, or from a personal curiosity about the differences between females and males, insights into this question should be of considerable interest.

I initially began to examine gender differences through studies of players of commercial VR games. The problem with studying commercial VR players to understand gender differences is that so few women are players. At FighterTown, only one female and 86 males completed surveys. Statistical comparisons are out of the question. At BattleTech, 2% of players who had played more than 50 games were female, along with 5% of those who had played 10-50 games and 9% of those who had played 1 to 9 games. The small group of females who actually chose to play BattleTech might be expected to be more similar to the males who play BattleTech than would females in general. Even so, gender differences in BattleTech responses were numerous and followed distinct, predictable, stereotypical patterns. For example, on a scale from 0 to 10, female novices found BattleTech to be: LESS RELAXING (1.1 versus 2.9 ) and MORE EMBARRASSING (4.1 versus 2.0) than did male novices. Males were more aware of where their opponents were than females were (63% versus 33%), of when they hit an opponent (66% versus 39%). Females BattleTech players enjoyed blowing people up less than males did, although both sexes enjoyed blowing people up a great deal (2.4 versus 1.5 out of 7, where 1 is VERY MUCH). Females reported that they did not understand how to drive the robot as well (4.6 compared to 3.1 for males where 7 is NOT AT ALL). Fifty-seven percent of female novices said they would prefer that BattleTech cockpits have fewer than it's 100+ buttons and controls, compared to 28% of male novices who wanted fewer controls. These and other differences are described in more detail elsewhere (Heeter, 1993a).

Another line of VR research in the Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab involves the development of VR prototype experiences demonstrating different design concepts, which we then show at conferences and collect data from conference attendees who try using the prototype. We have developed and exhibited three sets of VR experiences -- two using traditional "second person VR" or mirror world interfaces which added 3-D motion video and one "real hands" experience. In each case, gender differences was one focus of data analysis. For the first two mirror world experiences, very few gender differences were found. For the Real Hands interface, those differences that did emerge were in the direction of females liking the experience better than males did. Hmmm. It is actually not until the moment of writing this introduction that I realize this in itself is important. Until now I had decided that surveying our prototype VR experiences was a poor way to study gender differences, since there weren't many gender differences, and so I turned to another method of study for gender difference research. Later in this article I will return to briefly describe and discuss these VR experiences that females appear to enjoy equally or more...

I decided to try surveying non-users of VR, allowing a wide range of hypothetical questions to be asked. Respondents were not biased by or limited to current VR capabilities. On site player surveys are by necessity short to encourage cooperation. Instead we surveyed a captive audience: a large enrollment "Information Society" Telecommunication course at Michigan State University, where the students were willing to answer a 20 minute questionnaire, followed by a guest lecture about consumer VR games. A pretest of 120 students was conducted fall, 1992 and those results were used to refine the questionnaire. The full study was conducted in spring of 1993 with 203 students. Sixty-one percent of the 203 respondents were male. Average age was 20, ranging from 17 to 32. The sample represents young college students, and should be eventually replicated from a more diverse population of men and women. But even with a small sample size and specific demographic, the study reveals numerous statistically significant, consistent, interesting gender differences and begins to suggest a picture of what women may want from VR.

Interest in Trying Different VR Experiences

The survey first asked about overall interest in trying 7 different types of hypothetical VR experiences: Here is how the questions were structured:

Six possible genres of consumer VR are listed below. For each type of experience, think about whether you would prefer to experience it alone as an observer (not interacting), interacting with computer-simulated beings, interacting with other real people or interacting with both.

Virtual Fitness. Imagine being able to jog, do aerobics or lift weights in a virtual world instead of in a gymnasium. If you were to use this type of virtual experience, would you prefer to:

6%-OBSERVE 17%-INTERACT WITH SIMULATED BEINGS 25%-INTERACT WITH REAL HUMANS 53%-BOTH

How interested are you in trying this type of virtual experience?
x=5.4 (7=VERY INTERESTED and 1=WOULD NOT TRY THIS)

Six other virtual experiences were asked about, in addition to Virtual Fitness:

• Virtual Travel
  (Imagine being able to walk around and explore places like Paris or a tropical rainforest);
• Virtual Learning
  (Imagine being able to travel through the human body or into the earth's core);
• Virtual Games
  (Imagine an experience a little like a videogame, but you are inside of it and it is more realistic);
• Virtual Sex
  (Imagine being able to observe or participate in virtual sexual fantasies);
• Virtual Combat
  (Imagine being able to engage in virtual battles with enemy warriors);
• Virtual Presence
  (Imagine being able to be virtually present at live world events --ceremonies, debates, disasters...).

Table 1 presents the results. Virtual Travel is the greatest common VR interest between the sexes. Virtual Travel is the first choice among females by a large margin, and a strong second choice among males, on average rated higher than 6 out of 7. Virtual Learning and being virtually Present at remote events are next best for females, but not nearly as highly rated as Virtual Travel. Liking of Virtual Travel, Learning and Presence were not significantly different by gender. Male respondents are enthusiastic about VR in general -- not one of their 7 choices fell below an average 5.6 out of 7. Virtual Fitness, Virtual Games and Virtual Sex were rated on average less than 5 for females, significantly lower than for males. And Virtual Combat was the lowest of lows, at an average preference of 3.0 out of 7 for female respondents.

Preferences for Interactivity

The way in which males and females want to experience these different genres of VR also sometimes differ. They had the option to choose four ways of experiencing each genre: OBSERVE ONLY, INTERACT WITH COMPUTER, INTERACT WITH HUMANS, INTERACT WITH COMPUTER AND HUMANS. Crosstab analysis and Chi Square statistics were applied to test gender differences.

Females were significantly more oriented toward interacting with other live humans during virtual travel, although both sexes were very interested in having other real people sharing the virtual experience. Ninety-three percent of females and 80% of males expressed a desire to interact with live humans during virtual travel. (These figures add the percent wanting to interact with humans and those wanting to interact with both humans and computers.)

Significantly more females than males (30% versus 14%) were most interested in VR learning experiences where all they did was observe without interacting. Forty-two percent of females and 61% of males want to interact with both humans and computers in Virtual Learning. Neither males nor females were very interested in interacting just with other humans or just with computers in a VR learning experience.

Differences here were not significant. It is interesting how large a proportion of both sexes want to interact with computers as well as humans at live events. Certainly until now most live events do not involve human-computer interactions. Perhaps computers will begin playing a new, personified role in world events, through interactive television and, eventually, VR. Only about one tenth of either gender wants to experience live events in VR just by observing, like TV news today.

Exercise machines today are for the most part for individual use. But the vast majority of males and females surveyed want to be able to interact with other real humans and with computers during Virtual Fitness experiences. Including the possibility of interacting with other live humans is very important for both sexes -- 74% of females and 80% of males want this. Most also want to interact with the computer while exercising.

Fifty-eight percent of females compared to 40% of males were interested in either humans interacting with or observing other humans, but would not include computer-generated beings in their virtual sexual encounters. Nearly half of the female respondents wanted virtual sex to involve humans interacting with other real humans. Twenty percent wanted either pure observation or interactions only with computers. The majority of males wanted to interact with both humans and computers. Eighty percent of females and 93% of males still want human interaction to be part of virtual sex.

Females are not as interested in playing games anyway -- if they do, significantly more females (41%) than males (24%) want to do so without other humans around. But the majority of both sexes would prefer having other humans in the game.

Females are very uninterested in VR that involves combat. And if they have to do it, they would prefer to watch, or fight with computers rather than humans. Only 26% of females would want other humans involved in a VR combat experience, compared to 77% of males.

VR Genre Preferences

Mass media researchers consistently find gender differences related to television content preferences and television viewing styles. For example, females more strongly prefer soap operas, dramas and sit coms, while males more strongly prefer sports and action adventure programming. Males are frequent zappers, who channel surf and avoid commercials, while females are more likely to watch an entire show from start to finish. As another way of addressing gender differences in desire for different kinds of hypothetical VR experiences, our nonuser survey asked respondents to rate how much they thought they would enjoy different genres of virtual entertainment experiences. The scale ranged from 0 (would NOT enjoy AT ALL) to 10 (would enjoy VERY MUCH). Table 2 presents the results.

Documentaries, Horror, and Science Education VR genres were at the bottom of the list for both sexes. Adventure was very high for both sexes -- top choice and significantly higher for males than for females, but high enough among females to be second choice. Comedy was top choice for females (8.3), significantly higher than for males (7.2) although males expressed considerable interest in VR comedy genres. Virtual MTV was high for both sexes, but significantly higher for females.

Virtual Live Events and Detective/Cop experiences were moderately high for both females and males and not significantly different by gender. But for 7 of the 16 VR genre preferences, males and females strongly disagreed. Virtual sports, science fiction and eroticism were highly rated by males and much lower preferences for females. Virtual Soap Operas had the widest gender disparity of any genre, with females rating virtual soaps 6.0 and males 2.6. Science Fiction was nearly as disparate. Males rated virtual Sci Fi 7.8 out of 10, compared to 4.5 for females. This difference (and the others) should be reexamined with a larger and more diverse sample. But the general dislike of science fiction by females in the current study may have important implications for VR entertainment designed to appeal to both sexes. Virtual drama has the reverse pattern compared to science fiction. Males are relatively uninterested in drama (5.0), while females are very interested (7.3)

Females like the idea of virtual talk shows much better than males do. Males are more interested in virtual violence than females are, but even for these college males the level of interest in virtual violence is relatively low (5.8) compared to 8 other genres tested.

Game Outcome Factors

Respondents were asked to rate how much they would like 16 factors to influence the outcome of a virtual game, using a scale from 1 (VERY LITTLE) to 7 (VERY MUCH). Exploration and Creativity were the two game skills of greatest interest to this sample of college students. Competition was also very high for males, but lower for females. Males are significantly more likely than females to prefer VR games based on Competition, Risk-Taking, Leadership, Manual Dexterity, Fighting, and Physical Strength. Surprisingly, the skills of least interest to these college students were outcomes based on prior knowledge, luck and being a scientist. It is strange that at an institution for higher education, prior knowledge and being a scientist would rate so low as enjoyable challenges. It is also strange that luck is of almost no interest, particularly in the face of the popularity of lotteries and gambling. These results should also be examined with a more diverse sample. For females, game outcomes based on fighting were the lowest of 16 choices (2.8). Fighting was much higher for males (5.3). Table 3 shows the results.

Types of Sensation

In another approach to comparing hypothetical VR experience attributes between males and females, the survey asked about respondents' interest in different kinds of sensory and intellectual experiences, using a scale from 1 to 7 where 7=VERY MUCH and 1=VERY LITTLE.

Physical sensations (like flying or falling) -- average = 6.5

Visual and auditory sensations (like breathtaking landscapes or detailed alien faces) average = 6.1

Intellectual stimulation (content and experiences that make you think or learn) average = 5.7

Emotional experiences (experiences that evoke emotional responses) average = 5.6

Physical sensations were the most desired by both females and males. For females, emotional experiences were their second most desired sensation (6.0) but emotional experiences were the least desired sensation for males (5.3).

Miscellaneous

A handful of other questions, reported in Table 4, sought to tap gender differences which might be relevant to VR design. Females significantly more than males were found to dislike computers and technology (even in an introductory technology class). Females are less likely than males to say they "play" as much as adults as they did when they were children. Females get engrossed in a movie plot moreso than males do. They are more likely than males to get lost in a day dream. Females change channels less often when watching TV and they play fewer arcade and video games and other games.

Females would pay significantly less additional money than males would to experience higher resolution images. Moreso than males, females are interested in seeing their real hands in a virtual world than a computer generated hand. They are significantly more likely to want VR experiences to have meaningful real life parallels. And they are more interested than males are in being able to (virtually) meet and talk with people from around the real world who appear in the virtual world.

Discussion

To summarize findings from this exploratory study, here is what women DO want from VR experiences. They are strongly attracted to the idea of virtual travel. They would also be very interested in some form of virtual comedy, adventure, MTV, or drama. Virtual presence at live events is consistently rated positively, although not top on the list. The females in this study want very much to interact with other live humans in virtual environments, be it virtual travel, virtual fitness, or other experiences. If they play a game, they want it to be based most on exploration and creativity. Physical sensations and emotional experiences are important. They want the VR experience to have meaningful parallels to real life. Plot matters more than action. And they would like to see their real self in the virtual world. These women DO NOT want to experience combat, violence, or fighting. They are much less interested in games or sports or science fiction than men are. They don't want to compete based on prior knowledge, physical strength, manual dexterity or fighting. And they don't want it to be a game of chance where luck determines the outcome.

Would you prefer that the virtual world be based on the real world, as far as actual places?
x=4.4 (7= BASED ON REAL PLACES and 1= FANTASY PLACES)
*female x=4.1 male x=4.7

How important is it to you that the virtual world "looks and feels" like the real world?
x=4.5 (7= MUST BE REALISTIC and 1= OK TO BE ABSTRACT/DIFFERENT)

If the same experience were available in low and super-high resolution modes, but the high-res one cost more, how much more money would you be willing to pay for the super-high resolution experience?
x=4.5 (7= VERY MUCH MORE and 1= NO MORE)
*female x=4.1 male x=4.7

Would you like to appear to others looking like your real self, or a fantasy being you choose?
x=3.6 (7= A FANTASY SELF and 1= MY REAL SELF)

Would you prefer to know the gender of the other people in a virtual world with you?
x=5.8 (7= VERY MUCH and 1= NOT AT ALL)

In some VR experiences, you see a computer-generated hand which represents the movements of your real hand. Would you prefer to see a computer-generated hand or your real hand?
x=2.9 (7= A COMPUTER HAND and 1= MY REAL HAND)
*female x=2.5 male x=3.1

Would you prefer that a virtual game have meaningful parallels to real life experiences?
x=4.5 (7= VERY MUCH and 1= NOT AT ALL)
*female x=4.9 male x=4.3

Would you like to be able to (virtually) meet and talk to people from around the world who appear in a virtual world with you?
x=6.0 (7= VERY MUCH and 1= NOT AT ALL)
*female x=6.2 male x=5.9

How much do you like computers and technology?
x=5.4 (7=VERY MUCH and 1=NOT AT ALL)
*female x=4.8 male x=5.7

How appealing to you is the thought of participating in entertainment, rather than just watching it?
x=6.3 (7=VERY MUCH and 1=NOT AT ALL)

As an adult, do you still engage in activities you would describe as "play?"
x=6.2 (7=VERY MUCH and 1=NOT AT ALL)
*female x=5.9 male x=6.4

How engrossed do you get in a movie plot? Do you ever almost forget it's just a movie?
x=5.0 (7=VERY MUCH and 1=NOT AT ALL)
*female x=5.4 male x=4.8

How often do you get lost in a day dream?
x=5.1 (7=VERY MUCH and 1=NOT AT ALL)
*female x=5.5 male x=4.9

Reactions to Comm Tech Lab VR Prototypes

Finally, let's return to gender comparisons in the three studies based on our own prototype VR experiences. At the 1991 CyberArts International convention in Pasadena the Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab and ENTER Corporation exhibited 3-D interactive 2nd person VR prototypes and conducted research on participant reactions. In second person VR, you know you are there because you see yourself as part of the scene. On one side of the room, you stand in front of a blue background. You face a monitor and TV camera. On the monitor you see yourself, but instead of being in front of the blue background, the self you see is inside of a graphic or combined video/graphic virtual world. Edge detection software keeps track of your location and movement and allows you to interact with graphical objects on the screen. Rather than mimicking real world sensations, second person VR (also called "mirror worlds") changes the rules, and relies strongly on a "seeing is believing" argument to induce a sense of being there.

At CyberArts, 2nd Person VR participants wore 3-D glasses and stood in front of a blue curtain. The camera that was pointing at them was chromakeyed over 3-D motion video scenes, so that they saw themselves on a large screen across the room inside of a motion video scene. People were able to interact with graphical objects that appeared alongside them on the screen.

Participants could choose to swim undersea and befriend unusual sea creatures, dance or wander peacefully through a Japanese garden, or transform into Godzilla to terrorize downtown Tokyo while aliens from outer space tried to stop them. A loose non-verbal narrative story unfolded, with opportunities for the participant to interact.

87 individuals entered one or more of these ±3 minute virtual experiences and completed questionnaires. Three-fourths of CyberArts respondents were male. Average age was 34, ranging from 17 to 55. The sample size was very small, so gender differences would have had to have been very large to show up as significant. None did. Both sexes were generally positive about the experiences and enthusiastic about the potential of the combined 3-D video plus mirror world interface.

At SIGGRAPH '92 in Chicago we exhibited a new experience for 3-D interactive 2nd person VR prototypes using the same basic interface and conducted research on participant reactions. In this installation, called "Once Upon a 3D Time," instructions were built into the experience, delivered in the form of a spoken story narrative, as if describing something that happened in the past, for example: "when the sorcerer touched the ball, the scene would change..." The crystal ball and the 3-D motion Viewmaster are interfaces where it is natural to be able to touch objects to change the video scene. In both cases, you manipulate a portal to the video world, interacting by controlling the video rather than being immersed in it. As the story progresses, you enter one of the video worlds.

One hundred seventy-six completed questionnaires. Three-fourths of SIGGRAPH respondents were male. Average age was 30, ranging from 11 to 79. One significant gender difference emerged in reactions to the interface: females liked the use of narrative story for instructions better than males did.

It is impossible to say whether the mirror world interface or the content of the experiences caused there to be few gender differences in enjoyment of these prototypes. Unencumbered VR that does not require heavy head mounted displays or wired gloves is much more natural than wearing all sorts of VR clothing, and perhaps that is why they appealed equally to men and women. However, users did wear 3-D glasses in these experiences, so they were not technology-free. The experiences were not combative or competitive -- even terrorizing Tokyo was more of a tongue-in-cheek adventure than a situation of causing harm to others. In both prototypes, users wanted more interactivity.

The Comm Tech Lab Hands On Hawaii "Real Hands" interface was an extension of our research showing that people would prefer to see their real hands rather than a computer-generated hand in a virtual world. Seeing your real self in second person VR is familiar, because people see themselves in a mirror every day. But it is far more natural to look down and see the backs of your hands than it is to be watching yourself in a mirror while you do things like explore a virtual world. The basic idea is not new. Myron Krueger (1991) began working with hands as a second person VR interface many years ago. Most of his work uses silhouette representations of hands and bodies inside of computer-generated environments. We designed a real hands interface to study the impact of photorealism of the virtual world and of the hands.

We designed a "Real Hands" interface that lets users sit down at a custom-designed whale shaped kiosk, slip their hands under a curtain, and watch their hands appear in a virtual Hawaii on a screen in front of them. Both their life sized hands and the virtual world are photorealistic. Users can "touch" video-graphic objects to explore the islands and to learn about their ecosystems. The dividing line between real and virtual world is marked by the curtain you slip your hands under to enter the virtual world. We hoped the interface would create a compelling and involving sense of presence in a virtual world. And we conducted research on user reactions.

Seventy percent of the 284 technical and artistically oriented SIGGRAPH attendees who tried the interface and completed a questionnaire were male. Average age was 34, ranging from 16 to 62. Ninety-two percent of respondents felt that the interface had possibilities to use themselves for learning; 96% felt it had possibilities for children for learning; 85% might be interested in trying their real hands inside of other interfaces like email or graphic design.

Females and males had significantly different reactions to the interface. Females reacted more positively to the real hands, virtual worlds experience along numerous variables, including desire to personally learn using this technology, preference for real hands to mice, preference for real hands to whole body, and enjoyment of the different content components. Females also on average rated the importance of sound effects, motion video, music, and tactile experiences significantly higher than did males. This study is reported in more detail elsewhere (Heeter, 1993b).

We did not incorporate 3-D video into the Real Hands prototype (although subsequent internal tests have shown it to be an extremely powerful experience). So the Real Hands interface was more unencumbered than the prior two prototypes because there was no need to wear 3-D glasses. The Real Hands prototype also incorporated almost a half hour of "infotainment" actual content, unlike most VR demos. The Real Hands study created an interface and experience that women like more than men do. Again, it may have been the content or it may have been the interface. But female responses to questions about the interface and questions about the content were significantly more positive than male responses.

One possible conclusion from the prototype experiences is that technology is not automatically a turn of for women. It should be possible to create virtual reality experiences that appeal to females as well as males. None of the prototypes were commercial quality games. The real hands prototype was an interactive learning experience. But perhaps games can be created which incorporate the kinds of features identified in this study as appealing to females, and avoids the features females find most aversive. It's somewhere to start, at least.

References

Heeter, C. (1993a). "BattleTech Masters: Emergence of the first U.S. virtual reality subculture," Multimedia Review, winter.

Heeter, C. (1993b). "Real hands, virtual world," Proceedings of the Virtual Realities Systems Convention, fall.

Heeter, C. (forthcoming) "Consumer Research on Commercial VR," to appear in Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality, F. Biocca and M. Levy, Eds.

Krueger, M. (1991). Artificial Reality II. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Note: Six of Heeter's VR studies, along with interpretation, digital video of the systems studied and full text of the questionnaires have been integrated onto the Macintosh CD-ROM, VR Research Web, marketed by Michigan State University Instructional Media Center, 517-353-9229.

Heeter is Director of the Communication Technology Laboratory at Michigan State University where she also teaches Hypermedia Design in the Department of Telecommunication and serves as Hypermedia Coordinator for the Office of Computing and Technology.