Body and mind: a study of avatar personalization in three virtual worlds

With millions of users involved in virtual worlds, the authors of this study have decided to focus on the avatar as a visual representation of identity.  Beyond the sophisticated ability to control body language through the virtual representation, this took chose to focus on the physical form of the avatar itself.  They cite references that document the use of avatars to represent aspects of one's 'ideal self'.  While the whole may not be representative of the user, they aid in the establishment of self-esteem.

The researchers noted that, "Most participants (68%) create avatars looking different from themselves..." Female users are more likely to create avatars that are idealized versions of themselves, whereas male users tend to create avatars that stand out more in the virtual world.  Age-wise, older users were more likely to create an avatar based on an ideal self.  When avatars differ from the physical self it is usually in the areas of attractiveness, physical fitness, and standing out from the crowd (in that order).

Taking it to the next logical step, the researchers explored the attachment participants had to their avatars.  Those that created an idealized self were more attached to the avatar, with older participants once again having a larger level of attachment to this ideal self.

When exploring the psychology of the avatar versus that of the physical user the researchers were able to replicate earlier studies point for point.  Avatars are more conscientious, extroverted, and less 'neurotic'.  they also found avatars to be less open than the physical self.  Those participants that reported the smallest differences between their physical and virtual identities ranked themselves as being more pleased with their avatars.  Furthermore, the more time a user spends online, the less difference will be found between their online and offline identities.  The disconnect between who they are offline and who they are trying to be online is simply too much to handle.

It is true that we enjoy altering ourselves online to experiment, but we often abandon those experiments when they are too far from our 'real' selves.  It would be interesting to explore case studies of individuals who create avatars who are very different from their physical selves in both appearance and personality.  Would the dissonance become overwhelming in short order? I also wonder who those with dissociative disorders would react in a similar study.

Ducheneaut, N., Wen, M., Yee, N., & Wadley, G. (2009). Body and mind: a study of avatar personalization in three virtual worlds. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Proceedings of the 27th international conference on Human factors in computing systems, 1, Retrieved from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1518701.1518877 doi: 1518701.1518877