[Paper Review] Results of the 2023 Census of Beat Saber Users: Virtual Reality Gaming Population Insights and Factors Affecting Virtual Reality E-Sports Performance

Vivek Nair, Viktor Radulov+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|May 23, 2023

Sports Analytics and PerformanceEconomics, Econometrics and Finance3 citations

TL;DR

This large-scale survey of 1,006 Beat Saber players reveals key behavioral, demographic, and physiological factors influencing virtual reality e-sports performance. It identifies that athletic experience, controller grip technique, minimal clothing, wider wingspan, ambidexterity, and warm-up routines significantly correlate with higher performance points (PP), while Windows 10 users and those with rhythm game experience show mixed or negative effects.

ABSTRACT

The emergence of affordable standalone virtual reality (VR) devices has allowed VR technology to reach mass-market adoption in recent years, driven primarily by the popularity of VR gaming applications such as Beat Saber. However, despite being the top-grossing VR application to date and the most popular VR e-sport, the population of over 6 million Beat Saber users has not yet been widely studied. In this report, we present a large-scale comprehensive survey of Beat Saber players (N=1,006) that sheds light on several important aspects of this population, including their background, biometrics, demographics, health information, behavioral patterns, and technical device specifications. We further provide insights into the emerging field of VR e-sports by analyzing correlations between responses and an authoritative measure of in-game performance.

Motivation & Objective

• To understand the demographic, behavioral, and biometric profile of Beat Saber players, particularly those engaged in competitive play via BeatLeader.
• To identify factors correlated with higher in-game performance, measured by BeatLeader's performance points (PP).
• To examine the influence of device choice, physical fitness, and preparation routines on VR rhythm game performance.
• To provide a foundational dataset for future research on VR gaming populations and e-sports performance metrics.
• To inform game design, health considerations, and competitive fairness in VR e-sports through empirical user data.

Proposed method

• A 50-question online survey was administered to Beat Saber players via BeatLeader’s social media channels, collecting data on demographics, biometrics, device specs, health, and behavior.
• Participants were required to provide informed consent and could opt-in to have an achievement added to their BeatLeader profile.
• Performance data was collected from BeatLeader’s public leaderboards, including composite performance points (PP) derived from scores and map difficulty.
• Statistical analyses included one-way ANOVA, paired t-tests, and Wald tests to assess correlations between player attributes and PP.
• The survey was conducted from April 15 to May 1, 2023, with 1,006 valid responses, and ethics approval was obtained from UC Berkeley’s CPHS.
• Data was analyzed to identify significant predictors of performance, with effect sizes and p-values reported for each correlation.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What demographic and biometric characteristics distinguish high-performing Beat Saber players from the general user base?
• RQ2 How do device operating systems (e.g., Windows 10 vs. 11) influence performance in VR rhythm games?
• RQ3 To what extent do athletic experience, hand-eye coordination, and physical fitness correlate with Beat Saber performance?
• RQ4 How do preparation routines such as warm-ups or stretching affect in-game scores and PP?
• RQ5 What role does controller grip style, clothing, and body dimensions (e.g., wingspan) play in performance outcomes?

Key findings

• Players using Windows 10 outperformed those on Windows 11 by an average of 10.2%, suggesting a potential preference for gaming-optimized systems among high performers.
• Athletic experience, particularly in sports requiring hand-eye coordination like tennis and badminton, was associated with a 11.9% higher average performance compared to non-athletes.
• The two-finger 'Claw Grip' and three-finger 'M-Grip' on Oculus Quest controllers led to up to 64.5% better performance than the default grip.
• Wearing fewer garments—especially on the upper body, lower body, and feet—correlated with better scores, likely due to improved range of motion and thermoregulation.
• Players with wider wingspans achieved significantly better peak performance, with a correlation coefficient of r = -0.113 (p = 0.0045), indicating a measurable physical advantage.
• Ambidextrous players scored 12.6% better on average than right- or left-handed players, while left-handed users slightly underperformed right-handed users by 1.2%.