Performing the Looking-Glass Self: Avatar Appearance and Group Identity in<i>Second Life</i>

Martey, Rosa Mikeal; Consalvo, Mia

doi:10.1080/15405702.2011.583830

Cited by 71 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In order to incorporate themselves and fit in well within the virtual group, its members will design the look of their virtual representations according to the norms of the look of the group and the environment in which the group operates. This component was found by Martey and Consalvo (2011). This research also found the look of the avatar important to the integration and learning of the members of the group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Yet, the user will also choose or shape her or his avatar according to its purpose (functional congruity) -thus they propose the dual-congruity perspectives model. Other researchers found a third element relating to the identity of the virtual group (or environment) in which the avatar is being used (group-congruity) (Martey & Consalvo 2011). This research examined these three elements of the Choosing Avatar Model found in the literature and proposes a fourth perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and functional congruity (Does my avatar's appearance serve my purpose for using it: roll-playing, dating, etc.?). Martey and Consalvo (2011) added the importance of an online group perspective (Does my avatar's appearance fit my online group's norms?). This research proposes a quad-congruity perspectives model by adding a fourth factor to that conceptual framework: the constraining effect of offline culture and norms.…”

Section: Models Of Choosing and Shaping Avatarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The freedom afforded by the interface is dramatically constrained by the social and cultural norms of appearance in this online world and, as we propose, also by the offline cultural norms of users, especially new ones (the more they fit into SL subcultures and groups, the more these norms will prevail in the offline groups). To understand why people choose to appear as they do in the virtual world requires examining not only the expression and emergence of individual identities both online and offline, but also the broader social contexts in which they interact, again both online and offline (Abram, 2007;Boulos, Hetherington, & Wheeler, 2007;Carmi & Man, 2012;Jennings & Collins, 2007;Martey & Consalvo, 2011). …”

Section: Avatars and Virtual Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Virtual Representations in 3D Learning Environments

Shonfeld

Kritz

2013

IJELL

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This research explores the extent to which virtual worlds can serve as online collaborative learning environments for students by increasing social presence and engagement. 3D environments enable learning, which simulates face-to-face encounters while retaining the advantages of online learning. Students in Education departments created avatars that represented them at collaborative meetings and activities. The study examines students' choice of Avatar appearance in relation to their own appearance and their prevailing social and cultural norms. It compares the appearance of avatars chosen by students from different countries and cultures through analysis of observations, questionnaires, and interviews. Does the user's appearance affect his/her avatar's appearance? Does the user's culture affect his/her choice of avatar? Do 3D environments blur multicultural differences? Do similarities between students and their avatars contribute to their learning experience, and if so, in what way? Results indicate that although virtual 3D environments provide freedom, external contexts create powerful boundaries and expectations, leading many participants to seek a socially acceptable online appearance influenced by their cultural norms, as well as by online group identity. This study extends the dual-congruity perspectives of the Avatar Choice Model to a conceptual framework based on a quad-congruity perspective, including the importance of the online group and adding the constraining effect of offline culture and norms on virtual representations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Models Of Choosing and Shaping Avatarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Avatars and Virtual Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Virtual Representations in 3D Learning Environments

Shonfeld

Kritz

2013

IJELL

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“…Participants may use very different criteria in their determination and, as we have noted in the introduction, various factors may exist that impact the participant's internal image of their own face. Two situations we wished to avoid were where participants might choose either: a desired image (''how I want to look'') or something that emphasizes some personal quality, instead of exactly how they think they look, as they might do in online worlds (Martey & Consalvo, 2011). Therefore, we instructed participants to ''Imagine a close friend is going to meet you in a crowded virtual café.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving Participant Acceptance of their Avatars

Blom

Rivas

Alvarez

et al. 2014

Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments

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An experiment was carried out to examine the extent to which an avatar can be perceived by people as similar to themselves, including their face and body. The avatar was judged by the participants themselves rather than by third parties. The experiment was organized in two phases. The initial phase consisted of a forced-choice, paired comparison method used to create a ranking of 10 virtual faces in order of preference. This set of faces included a facial mesh, created by a custom software pipeline to rapidly generate avatars that resembled the experimental participants. Six more faces, derived from the participants' own face, were also shown in order to gain insight into the acceptance of a variety of facial similarities. In the second phase, full-body avatars with the most and least preferred faces were presented along with the direct pipeline output. Participants rated their level of satisfaction with those avatars as virtual selfrepresentations and provided the level of perceived resemblance to themselves. The results show that our avatars are perceived to be similar to the self, rated at 7.5/10. Those avatars with faces derived from the participants' face mixed with an ethnically similar face were also rated with high scores. These results differ significantly from how arbitrary avatars are perceived. Therefore, reasonably physically similar avatars can also be expected to be perceived as similar by participants.

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