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CHAPTER 6 Massively Multiplayer Online Games
Published in Vorderer Peter, Bryant Jennings, Playing Video Games, 2012
Avatar -Mediated Play. The avatars in MMOGs today developed out of text-based avatars in earlier role-playing games. An avatar is the virtual-world, or character, representation of the player in an online game. Text-based avatars in MUD games were usually player-written descriptions of their character's appearance, the length of which could range from one or two lines to several paragraphs. Drawing upon the idea of avatar as character description (or depiction) ather than merely an image or figure, we can expand on the technical definition of avatar to a broader notion of the term as it may be used within the context of MMOGs, which are not just virtual spaces, but virtual worlds. Key to what avatars afford is the means by which an individual represents him or herself—a physical and located person/object—to others in the virtual environment and community. Used in this sense, the word avatar becomes nearly interchangeable with character. The effect of having an avatar to represent one's own or created identity, of interacting and communicating with others through this represented self, is curious and complex.
Motivation Enhancement Methods for Community Building in Extended Reality
Published in Joshua A. Fisher, Augmented and Mixed Reality for Communities, 2021
Avatar nuanced interactions can be organized in persistent, complex, simulated or completely synthetic environments of high fidelity (Dalgarno and Lee, 2010). 3D environments can be responsive through programming the dynamic behavior of virtual objects under certain conditions and states. In 3D environments avatars can engage in rich, embodied, interpersonal interactions. Students and educators can communicate not just in voice and text modes (for example, private, public and group voice or text chat messages) but also through non-verbal channels such as movement, gestures and virtual body language. Further, virtual reality environments allow the exercise of agency; avatars are free to move and navigate in the virtual space.
Social Dynamics of MOGs
Published in Guo Freeman, Multiplayer Online GamesOrigins, Players, and Social DynamicsMultiplayer Online GamesOrigins, Players, and Social Dynamics, 2018
With these understandings, the dynamic of communication in MOGs can be strongly impacted by MOG players’ choices of avatars that have different social values and by players’ different ways of managing their avatars: Some players tend to create either gender-matched avatars or gender-mismatched avatars. Some players tend to create multiple avatars and switch among them, or a group of players sometimes shares the same avatar. And some other players tend to use one and only one persistent avatar. This freedom for a player to choose and develop avatars can give rise to various issues, such as gender and race representation, as well as the psychological effects of playing different kinds of avatars.
Examining self-congruence between user and avatar in purchasing behavior from the metaverse to the real world
Published in Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 2023
Jinsu Park, Naeun (Lauren) Kim
An avatar is a digital representation of the user through which the user interacts with and relates to others in the virtual environment (Hooi & Cho, 2014). In most virtual worlds, users create an avatar or customize their character as they want to express themselves (Sung et al., 2011), and almost every interaction has to do with the digital vicarious self, the avatar (Hollebeek et al., 2020). According to Belk (2016), regardless of the level of immersion, users are attached to their avatars, and users become their avatars while playing games, where avatar-self congruence occurs. Self-congruence was developed to explain the way in which consumers tend to choose a brand that is congruent with their self-concept (Malär et al., 2011). Because of the malleability in describing how people behave in a way to keep the consistence of their self-image, this concept has been used in a wide range of studies, including video game fields. According to Davis and Lang (2013), who studied the effect of self-congruence with video game itself on game usage and purchase behavior, they found that people who perceive high self-congruence with the game they play are more likely to play and purchase games. Similarly, Ko and Park (2020) who examined the effect of self-congruence with the avatar in video game context, suggested that people choose an avatar that is congruent with their self, as consumers tend to choose a brand or product that accords with their self-image.
Avatar-Mediated Communication in Video Conferencing: Effect of Self-Affirmation on Debating Participation Focusing on Moderation Effect of Avatar
Published in International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 2023
Inyoung Park, Young June Sah, Suhyun Lee, Daeho Lee
We also suggest that future studies further examine hitherto unconsidered stimuli on the level of anonymity. In this experiment, both speaker and listener were using avatars or showing their faces, so the level of anonymity was the same on both sides, but it is also possible to control anonymity differently. If future studies are to investigate the visual anonymity of the opponent differently (e.g., when only one side uses an avatar), it would be possible to establish how far anonymity affects debate along the continuum between self-anonymity and other-anonymity. In addition, in avatar customization, users may customize their own avatars to look like or unlike themselves. Future studies could explore how accurately users reflect themselves to an avatar as an effective way for self-representation. Therefore, future studies should further refine the experimental settings and examine the impact of avatars in detail.
Self-identification with a Virtual Experience and Its Moderating Effect on Self-efficacy and Presence
Published in International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 2020
Ni Kang, Ding Ding, M. Birna Van Riemsdijk, Nexhmedin Morina, Mark A. Neerincx, Willem-Paul Brinkman
As Jeannerod and Pacherie (2004) explain, the term self-identification can be perceived from two perspectives. It can be seen as a self-world comparison or as a self-other comparison. The first one is how Merrian-Webster dictionary defines self-identification: “identification with someone or something outside oneself.” This comparison helps to describe a person; for example, I am a teacher or a football fan. In virtual reality, this type of self-identification allows a person to relate to the experience of a virtual character. This can be seen in what Yee et al. (2009) referred to as the Proteus effect, which stipulates that individuals behavior conforms to how they are represented in the virtual world. They showed that the appearance of avatars in online communities, for example, length or the attractiveness of their avatar, affected how individuals interact with others online as well as in subsequent face-to-face interactions. Furthermore, instead of being used as self-representations, the characters can also be manipulated to be identified as a different person. For instance, people regarded the virtual characters as themselves when the characters behaved as what they had expected, whereas they identified the characters as others when the characters did not perform the expected behavior (Pavone et al., 2016).