  When living apart, grandparents and grandchildren often use audio-visual
communication approaches to stay connected. However, these approaches seldom
provide sufficient companionship and intimacy due to a lack of co-presence and
spatial interaction, which can be fulfilled by immersive virtual reality (VR).
To understand how grandparents and grandchildren might leverage VR to
facilitate their remote communication and better inform future design, we
conducted a user-centered participatory design study with twelve pairs of
grandparents and grandchildren. Results show that VR affords casual and equal
communication by reducing the generational gap, and promotes conversation by
offering shared activities as bridges for connection. Participants preferred
resemblant appearances on avatars for conveying well-being but created ideal
selves for gaining playfulness. Based on the results, we contribute eight
design implications that inform future VR-based grandparent-grandchild
communications.
