Actors and Their Use of Avatars as Personal Mediators: An empirical study of avatar-based sense-makings and communication practices in the virtual worlds of EverQuest and Second Life

Abstract

Over the past five years, millions of actors have found it meaningful to move in and settle down in the Metaverse, for example, as an adventurous shaman in an advanced role-playing game such as EverQuest or as a businesswoman in the social world of Second Life. In this article, the main question therefore is: how do the actors and gamers of the two types of virtual worlds make sense of their avatars and the worlds when they act and communicate using their avatars as personal mediators? Participatory observations inspired by virtual ethnography and in-depth video-interviews were conducted to answer this question. The analysis of the substantial amount of empirical data draws on the concepts of intermediaries and mediators from actor-network theory (Latour, 1991, 1998, 2005), Sense-Making methodology (Dervin et al., 2003), social psychology (Yee, 2006), and experimental economics (Bloomfield & Rennekamp, 2008). It is shown how the actors create a personal story and history of their avatar that transforms them into the mediators of being in the virtual world, and also how the avatars act as the mediators that transform the actors themselves. To identify, understand, and keep track of the many transformations of meaning, Nick Yee’s motivation factors (relationships, immersion, achievement, escapism and manipulation) have proven helpful also to the analysis of a social world like Second Life. In future studies, it is recommended that we study further the sense-makings of motivation factors such as creativity and experimentation.

FIJI: A Framework for the Immersion-Journalism Intersection

“…Second Life gave rise to three newspapers focused on the events of the virtual world: the Alpaville Herald, the Metaverse Messenger, and the Second Life Newspaper (Brennen and Dela Cerna, 2010). In addition to these virtual-world newspapers, Second Life facilitated the Metanomics (Metaverse and economics) weekly interview program hosted by Robert Bloomfield (Jensen, 2009). Metanomics became so successful that Cruz and Fernandes (2011) described it as "the seminal form of what journalism will look like in the 21st century.…”

Information sharing and the dimensions of social capital in Second Life

“…Riva et al [28] have showed that virtual environments function as an affective media. Their affective nature has been explained by several factors including the sense of presence [28] and the playful and game-like characteristics of the environments [29,30]. Emotional intelligence is put into play especially when an activity demands high levels of personal commitment and interpersonal trust.…”