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Avatars ’ appearance and social behavior in online virtual worlds.
| Content Provider | CiteSeerX |
|---|---|
| Author | Banakou, Domna Chorianopoulos, Konstantinos Anagnostou, Kostas |
| Abstract | Abstract — In this article, we investigate the effects of avatars’ appearance on user social behavior in online virtual worlds. In particular, we study appearance differences in social communication preferences and behavior in virtual public spaces. For this purpose, we have employed virtual ethnographic methods, which is an adaptation of traditional ethnography for the study of cyberspace. We employed nine users who used four different avatars and we observed a cumulative of more than two hundreds social encounters. The results of the study indicate that avatars ' appearance is an important factor in determining the social communication patterns between users in online 3D worlds. In particular, we found that users with more elaborate avatars had a higher success rate in their social encounters, than those users with the default avatars. The implications of this study raise several issues for the design of avatars, as well as for the study of social communication in online 3D worlds. Index Terms—Virtual ethnography, Second Life, avatar appearance, sociability. |
| File Format | |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Avatar Appearance Online Virtual World Social Behavior Virtual Ethnographic Method Appearance Difference Several Issue Success Rate Elaborate Avatar Second Life Index Term Virtual Ethnography Social Communication Pattern Social Communication Social Communication Preference Default Avatar Hundred Social Encounter User Social Behavior Traditional Ethnography Virtual Public Space Social Encounter Different Avatar Important Factor |
| Content Type | Text |
