Inside the Metaverse: VR social spaces, avatars, and haptic tech shaping our future interactions

This video follows New Scientist as they dive into virtual reality social spaces, exploring how avatars, nonverbal cues, and new technologies like motion capture and haptic suits could change how we meet, talk, and relate online. It also examines the limits of VR socialising and the potential societal implications.

Introduction and aims

The documentary begins with a framing of our increasingly online lives and the allure of immersive digital worlds. New Scientist correspondent Linda Rodriguez McGrabi announces a deep dive into the metaverse and socialisation in virtual spaces. The team plans to test whether virtual reality can provide authentic social experiences, and what such experiences mean for the society of tomorrow. They juxtapose Ready Player One style visions with real world limitations of current VR technology, including the social and emotional subtleties essential to human interaction.

First VR nightclub experiment

Linda and Izzy attend a virtual nightclub hosted by VR chat and moderated by Carl Clark, a researcher at Queen Mary University London. They begin by selecting avatars, discovering a surprising variety of forms from goose with large arms to fantastical characters. The narrative captures the sensory intensity of the club environment, including crowd dynamics, music, overlapping conversations, and the challenge of maintaining spatial awareness in a dense virtual space. The participants reflect on how auditory and social cues function in VR, noting how conversations occur in parallel and how avatars contribute to personal presence.

Izzy expresses initial skepticism about VR but becomes impressed by the level of immersion even with imperfect body representations. The duo discuss the differences between feeling present in the virtual environment versus the real world and consider how the lack of tactile feedback and precise eye contact affects social exchange.

Limitations of current avatars and face tracking

The conversation shifts to the limitations of avatar realism. Linda and Izzy discuss issues such as clothing visibility and the absence of authentic facial tracking. They highlight a crucial point: emotion and nuance are not fully captured by the digital avatar, which hampers authentic communication. This section frames the need for improved facial tracking and more expressive avatars to convey microexpressions such as eyebrow movements and gaze direction.

Nonverbal communication as a research focus

The team presents a broader research agenda: exploring how nonverbal cues shape social interaction in VR, and whether micro movements influence conversational trajectories. Ella Cullen, a PhD student at Target 3D, leads experiments that dissect eyebrow raises, gaze shifts, and timing of smiles. The aim is to map which micro movements support or hinder understanding during conversations and to design tools that capture or simulate these dynamics more accurately.

The narrative references how active listening in real life—facilitated by facial expressions and eye contact—can keep conversations afloat. Janet Bavelas is cited as a landmark figure in studying listener behavior, showing how different listeners influence the speaker through nonverbal feedback. Ella explains that the VR platform can be used to create double blind conditions to test how manipulation of nonverbal cues affects communication without participants realizing the manipulation is occurring.

Technical innovation: motion capture and calibration

The program then introduces Target 3D as a hub for motion capture and immersive technology. They demonstrate markerless motion capture, optical cameras, volumetric capture, and markless tracking technologies. The ability to capture real-time body movement without physical trackers is emphasized as a critical enabler of more natural interactions in VR. Linda and Izzy experience calibration phases as the system adapts to their bodies, observing how the absence of hand controllers changes the interaction with the virtual world.

Experiments with different bodies and social formations

In a pivotal moment, Carl and his team alter the participants' bodies in VR, turning Linda into an older gentleman and Izzy into a young woman, then into other avatars to study how identity affects conversation and perception. The experiment subtly reveals how our perceptions of others are influenced by appearance and embodiment, raising questions about authenticity in avatar-based communication. The group discusses how a lack of facial expressiveness in avatars can undermine eye contact and rapport, while a more expressive avatar could enhance connection.

The value of face tracking and emotion mapping

The researchers present real-time face tracking as a key area for development. They demonstrate methods to map facial movements to avatars and explore how these mappings can enable more natural interactions. They also discuss potential privacy and ethical concerns around capturing and overlaying facial expressions in virtual spaces. Linda experiences a close call story told by Izzy, which demonstrates how dramatic storytelling relies on expressive delivery and listener feedback. Ella's experiments reveal that even subtle facial cues can influence how a speaker is perceived and how they continue their narrative.

Health implications and therapeutic potential

The conversation broadens beyond entertainment to health and therapy. Valkyrie Industries and Queen Mary University London researchers describe how immersive technologies can be applied to rehabilitation. They discuss a platform that combines haptic feedback, motion tracking, and gamified therapy to support upper-limb rehabilitation after stroke. This approach leverages VR to boost motivation and re-educate neural pathways, with real world benefits observed in clinical trials. The potential to deliver such therapy at home could relieve the burden on healthcare systems while expanding access to therapy for mobility-impaired individuals.

Haptic technologies: Tesla suit and beyond

The Tesla suit is introduced as a multimodal system offering haptic feedback, biometric capture, and motion tracking. The suit uses electrical pads to stimulate muscle groups, enabling wearers to feel environmental cues in VR. Linda and Izzy observe a sequence of experiences including a first person shooter scenario, where the sensation of being shot and the sense of heart rate increase create a vivid sense of presence. The exoskeleton glove and other haptic devices are described as enabling more natural interactions such as grasping and manipulating virtual objects, enhancing embodiment in VR.

The discussion extends to the broader implications for healthcare and therapy. A patient rehabilitation program is highlighted, where electrostimulation paired with VR improves motor function in people with neurological disorders. The team explains that these results are not just about entertainment but about restoring tangible physical capabilities and independence for patients, with potential home deployment as a long term goal.

Applications, implications, and policy considerations

The program acknowledges both utopian and dystopian possibilities. On one hand, VR and haptic technologies could democratize access to therapy, training, and education, creating new ways to deliver care and enable remote work and social engagement. On the other hand, there are concerns about manipulation of nonverbal cues for persuasion, the ethics of AI generated expressions, and potential surveillance or coercion in digitally mediated social spaces. The team stresses the importance of critical governance and responsible AI as immersive technologies become more widespread.

Evolution of VR hardware and the path to mixed reality

The narrative turns to hardware trends such as smaller headsets with longer battery life, improved comfort, and the integration of VR with mixed reality features. The potential integration with robotics is highlighted by a Japanese cafe concept where staff use embodied robots controlled from distant locations, enabling people with mobility issues to participate in social and service tasks. The films suggest that a future where virtual, augmented, and real worlds blend seamlessly is increasingly plausible, with haptics playing a central role in bridging sensory modalities.

Concluding reflections

The piece closes with a reminder that virtual social spaces are not a wholesale replacement for real life but a complement. They offer new ways to build communities, experiment with social dynamics, and deliver care while also presenting challenges around authenticity, equity, and the governance of social AI. The authors suggest that immersive technology will likely become a persistent feature of everyday life, expanding how we communicate, learn, and heal, while leaving room for human connection that remains grounded in the real world.