TY - GEN
T1 - Avatars' appearance and social behavior in online virtual worlds
AU - Banakou, Domna
AU - Chorianopoulos, Konstantinos
AU - Anagnostou, Kostas
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - 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. appearance, sociability.
AB - 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. appearance, sociability.
KW - Avatar appearance
KW - Second life
KW - Sociability
KW - Virtual ethnography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70849113926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/PCI.2009.9
DO - 10.1109/PCI.2009.9
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:70849113926
SN - 9780769537887
T3 - PCI 2009 - 13th Panhellenic Conference on Informatics
SP - 207
EP - 211
BT - PCI 2009 - 13th Panhellenic Conference on Informatics
T2 - PCI 2009 - 13th Panhellenic Conference on Informatics
Y2 - 10 September 2009 through 12 September 2009
ER -