On the Relationship between My Avatar and Myself

What is the relationship between avatars and the pe ople they represent in terms of appearance and behavior? In this paper, we hypot hesize that people (balancing motives of self-verification and self-enhancement) customize the image of their avatars to bear similarity to their real selves, but with moderate enhancements. We also hypothesize that virtual-world behavior (du e to deindividuation in computer-mediated communication environments) is le ss restrained by normal inhibitions than real-world behavior. Lastly, we hy pothesize that people with more attractive avatars than their real selves will be s omewhat more confident and extraverted in virtual worlds than they are in the real world. We examine these issues using data collected from S econd Life residents using an in-world intercept method that involved recruiti ng respondents' avatars from a representative sample of locations. Our quantitativ e data indicate that, on average, people report making their avatars similar to thems elves, but somewhat more attractive. And, compared to real-world behavior, r espondents indicate that their virtual-world behavior is more outgoing and risk-ta king and less thoughtful/more superficial. Finally, people with avatars more attr active than their real selves state that they are more outgoing, extraverted, risk-taki ng, and loud than their real selves (particularly if they reported being relatively low on these traits in the real world). Qualitative data from open-ended questions corrobor ate our hypotheses.