Of Mice Or Men? The Avatar in the Virtualscape

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Of Mice Or Men?The Avatar in the Virtualscape

• Marc Conrad
• Computer Science and Technology
• Jo Neale
• Applied Social Studies
• Alec Charles
• Media, Art Design
• University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

29/09/2015 012017
Marc Conrad
University of Bedfordshire
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Avatars
http//secondlife.com/whatis/avatar/

• what exactly is an avatar in Second Life? In
  a virtual world, an avatar is a digital persona
  that you can create and customize. It's you
  only in 3D. You can create an avatar that
  resembles your real life or create an alternate
  identity. The only limit is your imagination. Who
  do you want to be?
• From http//secondlife.com/whatis/avatar/

29/09/2015 012017
Marc Conrad
University of Bedfordshire
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Avatars

• Typically avatars are created as a voluntary
  decision, to be used for recreation.
• What about people who must create an avatar as
  part of a task?
• Educators and Students
• Professional Software Developers
• Social Workers

29/09/2015 012017
Marc Conrad
University of Bedfordshire
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Avatar and Identity

• Digital mediation became ubiquitous
• Perceived prioritization of material experience
  while dismissing virtual experience in moulding
  identity? (clearly not true)
• Hence a paradigm shift in the mediation of
  identity because of the universality virtual
  experience.
• Understanding the influence on Second Life on the
  construction of identity is crucial.

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Study Embedded as Part of an Assignment in
Project Management

• You are working as a group of 10 individuals
  who need to come together and work as a team. You
  will be using the PRINCE2 project management
  methodology to run a real-life project. As part
  of an educational advisory team you have been
  asked to create an educational showcase. The area
  that you look at must be directly related to the
  pathway that you are studying, but may cover any
  aspect of technology within this area. As part of
  this project you will have to deliver a number of
  products.
• As a team you must produce the following, and
  meet the specified deadlines
• 3) An educational showcase in the Second Life
  island of the University of Bedfordshire

Extract from the 2009/2010 Assessment of the
postgraduate unit Professional Project
Management, University of Bedfordshire
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Demographics

• 813 students in the unit
• 283 engaged in the Second Life task having
  avatars, 208 responses received from the
  questionnaire
• 77.9 Indian (international students)
• 87.5 male
• 69.7 between 18 and 24 years old
• For 81.2 this was their first avatar (in Second
  Life or any other multi-user game)

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Areas investigated

• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Name
• Is the avatar human?

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Gender

• Most students (89.9) choose an avatar that
  matches their own gender
• Only 3.4 choose an avatar of the opposite
  gender.
• One student had two avatars of opposite gender
• (no answer from the remaining students)

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EthnicityWhich avatar did you choose at signup?

• 58.6 of the male Indian students (who answered
  the question) choose avatar A and 18.9 choose
  avatar B.
• Of the seven African students six choose avatar
  C.
• 10 of the 17 female students choose avatar H.
• Avatars J, K and L were not choosen by any
  respondents.
• There seems to be a tendency to choose an avatar
  that resembles oneself, or at least is ambiguous.

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Names

• 172 respondents both gave their avatar name and
  their real name.
• Focus on first name (the last name of the avatar
  cannot be chosen freely)
• Identification of four categories (e.g. Jonathan
  Bloggs)
• Same as real name (e.g. Jonathan or Bloggs)
• Part of real name (e.g. Jon, Blog)
• Derived from or related to real name (joeblogg,
  blogg17)
• Different (e.g. flux, Brandy, bla)
• Fifth category the name is related to the group
  name.

43
8.7
11.6
32.6
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Quantitative results

• Very few selected an avatar unrelated to their
  own appearance.
• Suggests an identification with the avatar as an
  extension of the users self.
• However the avatars are pre-designed and
  interpellate the user within an ideologized ideal
  of physical appearance.
• Association with a subjectivity which is only
  vaguely related to the users own.
• Nearly a third chose apparently unrelated as if
  conscious of the difference between their own
  subjectivity and that of the avatar.

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Interesting (and unexpected) Results by the
Following Two Questions

• Does your current SL avatar have human
  characteristics? (yes / no)
• If your avatar is not human, what form does it
  take? (open question)
• We expected answers that, for instance, would
  refer to animal avatars such as dogs or cats,
  that are also possible and fairly common within
  Second Life

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Answers to If your avatar is not human, what
form does it take?

• just and animated image and controlled by the
  user
• animated image
• a kind of Avatar which runs sic with the
  command of creator
• it is just a device or just a doll which is been
  sic controlled by some buttons
• spirit, cloud
• Lite
• ROBOT
• /

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Answers to If your avatar is not human, what
form does it take?

• just and animated image and controlled by the
  user
• animated image
• a kind of Avatar which runs sic with the
  command of creator
• it is just a device or just a doll which is been
  sic controlled by some buttons
• spirit, cloud
• Lite
• ROBOT
• /

• First four are a critically revealing misreading
  of the question.
• Rather than describing the form, the intended
  function is explained.
• Suggests an unconscious resistance to the notion
  of the avatars influence (which indeed implies
  an awareness)

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Answers to If your avatar is not human, what
form does it take?

• just and animated image and controlled by the
  user
• animated image
• a kind of Avatar which runs sic with the
  command of creator
• it is just a device or just a doll which is been
  sic controlled by some buttons
• spirit, cloud
• Lite
• ROBOT
• /

• The last four responses are somewhat opaque and
  can be interpreted in various ways.
• The / being the most enigmatic.

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/

• Perhaps the / sums up the relationship between
  the user and the avatar as concisely and
  precisely as one might manage the borderline
  between two modes of existence, an interface in
  between states.
• No longer a barrier but an opening gateway, that
  diagonal line blurs the distinction between
  software, hardware and self between
  simulations, avatars, keyboards, mice, women and
  men.

Note The study is currently being repeated with
modified questions to gather more qualitative
responses.