This paper presents the conception of “Evocative HCI” as an opportunity to conduct research into recent constructive experiences from VR gaming and the “Social VR” metaverse. The paper takes on the following trajectory: (1) I begin from the hypothesis that the metaverse is defined not primarily by solitary virtual experiences (e.g. 360-° video) but rather by community and social encounters, and these occur most often in game-like environments; (2) I describe my research methodology and contributions in terms of my first of its kind Live-VR Lab which is dedicated to ethnographic study of user experiences (190 total participant experiences) in VR (8 VR headset varieties); (3) I articulate analysis and results from the data collected in the lab and present a series of themes; (4) I discuss the results from the themes, and I propose a way forward in thinking about HCI and the metaverse as a space beyond a generic and embodied sense of immersion for the user. Evocative HCI therefore refers to the elements of the metaverse which are playful and evoke multiple senses. Industry researchers and scholars alike can learn to explore these senses in future studies.