Avatars:the other side of Proteus's mirror : a study into avatar choice regarding perception

The trend for online interactions, can be regarded as being ‘anti-so-cially social’, meaning that a great deal of time is spent playing, working and socializing with the internet serving as the communication conduit. Within that Virtual Social Environment very deep relationships are formed and maintained without the parties ever having met each other face-to-face. Raising the question how much does the physical appearance of an avatar influence the perception of the person behind it? Are relationships informed by appearance even in the vir-tual world and what implications does that have for second language acquisition? This paper leads to a small-scale research project where a selection of avatars with various racially identifiable characteristics were used to identify which av-atars a second language speaker would feel more at ease interacting with in the target language. The resultant research aims to test three hypotheses regarding preferred avatar choice for second language users based solely on perceptions

Reflecting and Shaping the Self through Avatars: The Relationship between Avatars, Identity, and Personal Needs

Individuals frequently engage with virtual environments through the use of characters that represent the self, known as avatars. This dissertation focuses on two primary research questions: (1) how do avatars reflect identity and, (2) how does engaging with an avatar shape the self, in terms of personal needs and self-perceptions? We examine the bidirectional relationship between avatars and their users across four studies. Study 1 examines whether customized avatars can accurately communicate the personalities of their creators to others. Expanding on the theme of reflecting identity, Study 2 explores whether avatar preferences are related to individuals personal psychological needs, specifically the needs for warmth and competence. The results of Studies 1 and 2 indicate that avatars can accurately reflect identity in terms of both personality and psychological needs. However, individuals can also be motivated to use avatars in a way that deviates from ones actual identity, such as avatars that reflect ones ideal self. Study 3 examined whether creating an avatar provides individuals with the opportunity to self-enhance in response to psychological threat. Specifically, we investigated whether there is a tendency to create more idealized avatars following psychological threat and whether this can help mitigate the negative effects of threat on mood and self-concept. The results did not support these ideas, however, with avatar creation seeming to exacerbate rather than improve the negative outcomes of experiencing a psychological threat. That said, it is possible that actively controlling an avatar is an important prerequisite for avatars to have a positive influence on self-perceptions. In Study 4, participants were asked to create either an avatar that reflected their actual self or their ideal self; they were subsequently assigned to either watch or control this avatar. Controlling an avatar, regardless of type, was related to improvements in self-concept (e.g., self-liking), but did not any reduction in discrepancy between the actual self and ideal self. We discuss the results of these studies with a focus on how they might inform future work and their possible application in the real-world, including interactive social interventions

SELF-PRESENT BY AVATARS IN MULTIPLAYER ONLINE ROLE-PLAYING GAMES: THE INFLUENCE OF SELF-ESTEEM, ONLINE DISINHIBITION, AND SELF-DISCREPANCY

Playing Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) is now a popular leisure activity for some people. Players spend significant energy and money on it. In MMORPGs, players can customize their avatars as virtual identities to present themselves in the virtual world. Avatars are important when playing MMORPGs. However, few previous studies focus on the psychological determinates for avatar presentation in MMORPGs. In this study, we used an online questionnaire of 337 participants to explore the antecedent factors influencing avatar presentation. The current study considers the influence of self-esteem, online disinhibition, and self-discrepancy on self-present and the influence of self-present on avatar presentation of idea self, stand out, and following a trend. The empirical survey result reveals the self-discrepancy between virtual and physical self are relative negatively with self-esteem and positive with online disinhibition. The self-present are influence by both self-discrepancy and online disinhibition. Besides, self-present perception will lead to avatar presentation. The current study provides contributions about confirming the antecedents of avatar presentation that may be serve as fundamental for future research on online game behavior

Avatars in education : age differences in avatar customization

The use of new technologies in education has become increasingly popular in recent years. One element that increases engagement in activity undertaken on electronic devices is the avatar - a virtual representation of the player. For online education to bring the expected results, it is important for users to choose the right avatar. The purpose of the article is to present existing data on the creation of avatars by people of different ages. Additionally, issues which deserve future consideration are suggested

A systematic review and investigation of avatar- and self-related processes and problematic gaming

This item is only available electronically.Many games feature avatars that enable adoption of, and experimentation with, roles and identities. How avatar- and self-related processes develop and maintain gaming disorder (GD) is unclear. This review examined 18 quantitative studies of avatar- and self-related concepts and problematic gaming, including 13 survey-based and 5 neuroimaging studies. Survey-based studies consistently reported that negative self-concept, avatar identification, and large self-avatar discrepancies were associated with problematic gaming. Poor selfconcept appears to be a GD risk factor. Further research should explain how avatars relate to GD’s addictive mechanisms (e.g., cognitive distortions, reward-seeking), amid calls for GDrelated interventions to focus on avatar identification.Thesis (M.Psych(Clinical)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 202

Exploration of virtual body-representation in adolescence : the role of age and sex in avatar customization

The malleable nature of the self led researchers to investigate the meaning of virtual identity by exploring virtual self-representation through avatars and its association with users\u2019 identity. The present study aims to investigate the changes in virtual body-representation in adolescence related to age levels and sex and the association with adolescents\u2019 self-esteem and body esteem. Anthropometric features, body esteem and self-esteem were used to assess adolescents\u2019 body image and identity. The scoring code of the \u201cDrawing Me\u201d graphical test was used to evaluate the avatars. The sample is composed of 63 adolescents of different ages\u2014early, middle and late adolescence\u2014balanced by sex. Results show that the creation of a digital avatar changes with age and is partially associated with adolescents\u2019 perceptions in terms of body esteem and self-esteem. Moreover, the creation of avatars occurs differently for boys, who enrich their avatars with many sexual features, than for girls, who prefer to detail their avatars\u2019 clothing to enrich them. Critical reflections and implications for psychological interventions that may use avatars to investigate adolescents\u2019 identity in integration with other tools will be discussed

Gender, personality, and their effects on avatar customization for on-line video game environments

In light of the recent Gamergate controversy, the tension between male and female video game players is as discernible as ever. It behooves behavioral scientists, information scientists, and game developers to investigate the differences between men and women in video game environments, particularly in the ways in which they choose to physically represent themselves for online interaction. Several previous studies observed gender differences in avatar selection and customization, which typically only included human avatars as options to participants. Some of these studies also identified correlations between gender, Big Five personality traits, self-esteem, and avatar selection. The current study sought to improve upon these past studies by presenting other non-human races as additional avatar options. The results of the current study reflected similarities in men and women's avatar selection choices and corresponding personality traits to previous studies in terms of avatar-participant discrepancies in light of the additional non-human race options.Master of Science in Information Scienc

The relationship between individual differences and human territoriality, within a simulated environment

Territoriality is defined as the acquisition of land or resources, such as food or mates, and securing these resources from actual or perceived threat. Many animals show differences in the expression of territoriality based on sex and personality differences, this study examined the extent these factors mediate territoriality usage, and what form it expresses itself in human participants. First gender (as identified by self-report questionnaire) and personality (scores attained from the Big Five Inventory Questionnaire), were examined, and how this altered in game territorial behaviours. It was found that females tended to use more non-aggressive territorial behaviours than males, and displayed a greater number of overall territorial behaviours than males. These results are consistent with an evolutionary theory of territoriality, whereby females tend towards more passive territorial behaviours, as opposed to males who tend towards more aggressive territoriality. Surprisingly, males did not show this inverse relation of increased aggressive territorial behaviours within this simulation.Secondly, power asymmetries were examined between avatars, based on predictions by Game Theory. It was found that participants assigned to smaller avatars displayed significantly more withdrawing behaviours in general, and in particular towards larger avatars, as compared to the individuals controlling larger avatars. Furthermore smaller avatars used more passive territorial behaviours than larger avatars. This is consistent with a Game Theory approach to territoriality.Finally winner and loser effects were examined in how they mediate emotional word usage in a short storytelling activity. It was found that low survival time is the best predictor of negative emotional word usage, and as survival time increase, negative emotional word usage decreased

Physiological Responses to Perceived Exergame Task Demands

Exercise videogames are increasingly popular as individuals seek to increase daily exercise. This study assessed physiological reactions to perceived task demands from a virtual exercise game and their influence on exercise during the following week. Participants completed a biking task in a virtual environment with an avatar that they were told would slim if they cycled fast enough (low task demand manipulation). Only half of participants’ avatars actually slimmed (high task demand manipulation). Individuals with high exercise self-efficacy (ESE) showed similar results in both task demand conditions with high levels of work output and cardiovascular reactivity patterns indicative of threat. However, individuals with low ESE with an avatar that remained constant (high task demand) worked less hard and completed less exercise than those with low ESE who observed their avatar slimming. Results confirm that high task demands for those with low ESE levels can be particularly damaging by reducing future exercise levels