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Using a virtual reality role-playing game to enhance interaction dynamics and improve social attitudes toward transgender people
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  • Published: 10 April 2026

Using a virtual reality role-playing game to enhance interaction dynamics and improve social attitudes toward transgender people

  • Cassandra L. Crone1,
  • Rachel W. Kallen1 &
  • Michael J. Richardson1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Health care
  • Psychology

Abstract

While virtual reality (VR) interventions have demonstrated efficacy in reducing intergroup prejudice, they have yet to be applied to transprejudice. Accordingly, we developed a VR role-playing game (RPG) that integrates perspective-taking and intergroup-contact for transgender identities. We evaluated the RPG’s impact on cisgender individuals’ movement dynamics and social attitudes toward transgender people using a mixed experimental design, in which 162 participants embodied a self-customised transgender avatar and interacted with a cisgender or transgender virtual colleague. Empathy increased throughout the interaction, consistent with mediating the relationship between virtual embodiment and post-session gender essentialism, but only those partnered with a transgender colleague reported increased within-session interpersonal affiliation. Aligning with shifts in empathy, participants’ postural dynamics became less constrained and more complex over time, although women adapted more readily to the RPG than men. Taken together, our findings highlight the potential value of simulated interactions that promote rapport-building between cisgender and transgender individuals.

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Data availability

The de-identified dataset generated and analysed during this study is available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29288978.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Jessica Liang, Polina Kurbanova, Gianna Edirimanne, and Justin Biceski for assistance with data collection, as well as Meredith Porte for assistance with programming in VR.

Funding

The current research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship, granted to the first author.

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  1. School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Cassandra L. Crone, Rachel W. Kallen & Michael J. Richardson

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Contributions

CLC and RWK conceived and designed the study. CLC and MJR analysed and interpreted the data. CLC wrote the main manuscript text and prepared all display elements, with oversight and supervision provided by RWK and MJR. All authors reviewed the manuscript and approved their contributions to the work.

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Correspondence to Cassandra L. Crone.

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Crone, C.L., Kallen, R.W. & Richardson, M.J. Using a virtual reality role-playing game to enhance interaction dynamics and improve social attitudes toward transgender people. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46402-3

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  • Received: 01 July 2025

  • Accepted: 25 March 2026

  • Published: 10 April 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46402-3

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