investiGaming - Research Findings on Gender and Games

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investiGaming is a publication of the Serious Game Design group in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University, 2007

This gateway is partially supported by grant supported by grant 0631771 from the National Science Foundation.

The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent Michigan State University or the National Science Foundation.

The influence of the avatar on online perceptions of anthropomorphism, androgyny, credibility, homophily, and attraction

Author: Nowak, K. L., and Rauh, C.
Date: 2005
Source: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), article 8
Full Text Link:

available at Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/nowak.html)

Keywords:

implications, avatar, androgyny, anthropomorphism, attraction, credibility, homophily, masculine, feminine, gender, college, students, study

Abstract:
It has become increasingly common for websites and computer media to provide computer generated visual images, called avatars, to represent users and bots during online interactions. In this study, participants (N=255) evaluated a series of avatars in a static context in terms of their androgyny, anthropomorphism, credibility, homophily, attraction, and the likelihood they would choose them during an interaction. The responses to the images were consistent with what would be predicted by uncertainty reduction theory. The results show that the masculinity or femininity (lack of androgyny) of an avatar, as well as anthropomorphism, significantly influence perceptions of avatars. Further, more anthropomorphic avatars were perceived to be more attractive and credible, and people were more likely to choose to be represented by them. Participants reported masculine avatars as less attractive than feminine avatars, and most people reported a preference for human avatars that matched their gender. Practical and theoretical implications of these results for users, designers, and researchers of avatars are discussed.

Implications for Game Industry:
(Implications bu Kacie Schaeffer, Serious Game Design Graduate Student, Michigan State University )

The Summary:
- Participants strongly preferred to be represented by avatars that were both human and matched their own gender.
- The characteristics of an avatar may often provide useful, and relatively accurate, information about the person it represents.
- A gendered avatar (whether masculine or feminine) was more credible than an androgynous avatar and more likely to be selected.

What Does It Mean?
- People categorize avatars according to how closely they model the human form.
- Animals are less anthropomorphic than humanoid avatars, but more anthropomorphic than stationary objects used as avatars.
- An avatar’s masculinity or femininity is highly important in how the player represented by it is perceived.
- Many people assign genders to characters in cyberspace even if no visual representation is present.
- Participants reported masculine avatars as less attractive than feminine avatars and child-like images as more attractive

Going In-Depth
- Players may also want to match other characteristics such as hair color and race, religion, perhaps sexual orientation, or even hobbies.
- A choice of avatars that enables minorities to match their ethnicity or race would probably be welcome.
- Designers should provide a wide variety of choices to increase player satisfaction and to increase the meaningfulness of avatar representations both to the player and to those interacting with an avatar.


Research Highlights:
No Highlights have been written for this entry.