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Presenting identity in a virtual world through avatar appearances

Published: 25 May 2009 Publication History

Abstract

One of the first tasks that people must do when entering a virtual world (VW) is create a virtual representation for themselves. In many VWs, this means creating an avatar that represents some desired appearance, whether a reflection of one's real life self, or a different identity. We investigate the variety of ways in which people create and evolve avatar appearances in the VW of Second Life® (SL) through contextual interviews. Our findings reveal that users balance pressures from the societal norms of SL with the need to create an appearance that matches a desired virtual identity. These identity needs differ based on four types of users---Realistics, Ideals, Fantasies, and Roleplayers---where each presents unique challenges for avatar design. Current research tends to focus on the needs of only one of these user types.

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    Published In

    cover image Guide Proceedings
    GI '09: Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2009
    May 2009
    257 pages
    ISBN:9781568814704

    Sponsors

    • The Canadian Human-Computer Communications Society / Société Canadienne du Dialogue Humaine Machine (CHCCS/SCDHM)

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    Canadian Information Processing Society

    Canada

    Publication History

    Published: 25 May 2009

    Author Tags

    1. appearance
    2. avatar
    3. identity
    4. virtual worlds

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    • Research-article

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    GI '09 Paper Acceptance Rate 28 of 77 submissions, 36%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 206 of 508 submissions, 41%

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    Cited By

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    • (2024)Tonii: Customizable Amulets that Activate Augmented Reality SuitsACM SIGGRAPH 2024 Labs10.1145/3641236.3670866(1-2)Online publication date: 13-Jul-2024
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    • (2022)“It’s Just Part of Me:” Understanding Avatar Diversity and Self-presentation of People with Disabilities in Social Virtual RealityProceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3517428.3544829(1-16)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2022
    • (2022)Digital Proxemics: Designing Social and Collaborative Interaction in Virtual EnvironmentsProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3517594(1-12)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
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    • (2020)Gaming the NameProceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3410404.3414259(120-131)Online publication date: 2-Nov-2020
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    • (2017)To be (me) or not to be?Proceedings of the 29th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/3152771.3156166(503-507)Online publication date: 28-Nov-2017
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