Investigating the Relation Between Gender Expression of Mixed Reality Avatars and Sexuality of Male Users

Mixed reality environments are the next step in remote collaboration, yet there has been little attention towards avatar design for the en-joyability and efficiency of diverse users, particularly for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) community. We believe that it is important to adapt the design of virtual avatars users collaborate with depending on not only the users gender but also their sexuality. In this study, we focus on examining the relationship between the sexual orientation of male users with the gender expression of virtual avatars, while they perform a collaborative task in mixed reality. We analyzed the perception of straight cisgender men and gay cisgender men in relation to the gender expression of the above mentioned agents and find differences that might affect design decisions for creating user-base specific avatars. We found that Female avatars tend to have a more positive perception when it comes to gay men. And for mixed reality, gay men also tend to have both negative and positive experiences more intensely than straight men.