Mind the Gap: A Decade-Scale Empirical Study of Multi-Stakeholder Dynamics in VR Ecosystem

2025-08-23

AI Summary

A significant cognitive gap exists between user needs and developer responses on VR platforms, hindering user-centered quality assurance and innovation. Method: This study introduces the first multi-perspective empirical framework that systematically aligns 940,000 user reviews with 380,000 developer discussions, integrating topic modeling and quantitative impact analysis to trace cross-group topic evolution. Contribution/Results: It identifies critical response gaps—such as inclusivity and community safety—for the first time: topics frequently raised by users but rarely addressed by developers. The analysis reveals interaction patterns and structural misalignments among multiple stakeholders in product evolution. Findings provide data-driven governance recommendations and actionable pathways for optimizing platform governance and designing next-generation VR systems.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Responsible Web: Consent frameworks and practices on the web
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics

Abstract

In the development and evolution of VR ecosystem, platform stakeholders continuously adapt their products in response to user and technical feedback, often reflected in subtle shifts in discussion topics or system updates. A comprehensive understanding of these changes is essential for identifying gaps between user expectations and developer actions, which can guide more effective quality assurance and user-centered innovation. While previous studies have analyzed either user reviews or developer discussions in isolation, such approaches typically fail to reveal how specific user concerns are (or are not) addressed by corresponding technical activities. To address this limitation, our study introduces a multi-view empirical framework that systematically compares and aligns stakeholder perspectives. By applying topic modeling and quantitative impact analysis to 944,320 user reviews and 389,477 developer posts, we identify not only the overlap in concerns (e.g., performance, input methods), but also clear gaps in areas like inclusivity and community safety (e.g., LGBTQ+ representation, child-friendly content). Our findings show that while users repeatedly raise such issues, they are rarely discussed in developer forums. These insights enable data-driven recommendations for closing the user-developer gap in VR ecosystems, offering practical implications for platform governance and the design of next-generation VR systems.

Problem

• Identifying gaps between user expectations and developer actions in VR ecosystems
• Analyzing how user concerns are addressed by technical activities in VR
• Understanding multi-stakeholder dynamics through user reviews and developer discussions

Innovation

• Multi-view framework aligning stakeholder perspectives systematically
• Topic modeling applied to user reviews and developer posts
• Quantitative impact analysis revealing gaps in inclusivity areas