Physical and social presence in collaborative virtual environments: Exploring age and gender differences with respect to empathy

Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) hold the immense potential of enhancing social inclusion and social support not only in younger but especially also in older people. However, there is still considerably little knowledge about the experiences of elderly when using CVEs. Additionally, there is reason to assume that men and women regardless of their age might also differ in their perceptions of CVEs, with this difference very likely being mediated by empathic abilities. Consequently, the main objective of the current study was to evaluate gender specific experiences of social and physical presence in a group of older (N = 62) and younger adults (N = 62) with respect to possible mediating influences of empathy. Results indicate no differences in physical and social presence between the two age groups, yet they support past findings that men experience more spatial presence, involvement and a higher sense of being there than women. Also, the empathy scale Fantasy considerably mediated gender differences in spatial presence, thus strengthening the theoretical assumption of a relationship between presence and empathy. Implications and future directions of these findings are discussed in detail.