‘What I see is not what you get’: why culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters should be user-tested across cultures

Abstract

Integrating culture into the behavioural models of virtual characters requires knowledge from very different disciplines such as cross-cultural psychology and computer science. If culture-related behavioural differences are simulated with a virtual character system, users might not necessarily understand the intent of the designer. This is, in part, due to the influence of culture on not only users, but also designers. To gain a greater understanding of the instantiation of culture in the behaviour of virtual characters, and on this potential mismatch between designer and user, we have conducted two experiments. In these experiments, we tried to simulate one dimension of culture (Masculinity vs. Femininity) in the behaviour of virtual characters. We created four scenarios in the first experiment and six in the second. In each of these scenarios, the same two characters interact with each other. The verbal and non-verbal behaviour of these characters differs depending on their cultural scripts. In two user perception studies, we investigated how these differences are judged by human participants with different cultural backgrounds. Besides expected differences between participants from Masculine and Feminine countries, we found significant differences in perception between participants from Individualistic and Collectivistic countries. We also found that the user's interpretation of the character's motivation had a significant influence on the perception of the scenarios. Based on our findings, we give recommendations for researchers that aim to design culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters.

Comparison of influence of Thai and Japanese cultures on reasoning in social communication using simulated crowds

“…The study of cultural communication has gained popularity over the last decade and many researchers have developed virtual simulation systems to represent different cultural behaviours and communication. These systems are designed to provide learners with an understanding of different cultural behaviours through complex models of a virtual agent's behaviour (Degens, Endrass, Hofstede, Beulens, & André, 2014;Endrass et al, 2011;Hall et al, 2015;Kistler, Endrass, Damian, Dang, & André, 2012;Mascarenhas et al, 2013), useful scenarios (Endrass et al, 2011;Hall et al, 2015;Kistler et al, 2012;Mascarenhas et al, 2013), or powerful interactive tools (Kistler et al, 2012;Mascarenhas et al, 2013). The learners observe the situation from a third-person point of view (POV), just as they are looking at other behaviours as examples (Degens et al, 2014;Hall et al, 2015;Kistler et al, 2012), and then they are asked to interact with the agent first-person POV (Hall et al, 2015;Mascarenhas et al, 2013) same as in the real world.…”

“…The waiting position, waiting queue shape, and waiting process are important factors in the pleasantness of waiting (Maister, 1984;Rafaeli et al, 2002). As mentioned above, the space used is culturally influenced (Degens et al, 2014). People have different ways of managing their own space.…”

Don't Be a Stranger-Designing a Digital Intercultural Sensitivity Training Tool that is Culture General

“…We build on previous work involving the use of synthetic cultures to create critical incidents that feature differences across cultures according to the dimensions of culture by Hofstede et al [28], [29].…”

The Lemon Car Game Across Cultures: Evidence of Relational Rationality

“…For online games of this kind, the study confirms that players 'fill in the blanks' in culture-dependent ways, as is known for the world of face-to-face gaming simulation (Hofstede et al 2010b). This implies that pilot studies to check for game perception are advisable before launching larger studies, as was found for studies with online story scenarios (Degens et al 2017).…”

“…Indeed, a useful frame for reflection on the Lemon Car Game is the dimension of designer versus player. The results from the game suggest a case of "what I see is not what you get" (Degens et al 2017), where 'I' stands for the authors, the designers of the game, and 'you' for the players. Degens et al found, in an experiment, that designers were apt to wrongly anticipate how users from other countries would interpret their internet-based assignments.…”