Avatars Can Affect Users of Video Games

According to a communication professor at the University of Texas in Austin (UTA), people's representations in online worlds and computer games – known as their avatars – can exert a strong, negative influence on their owner's behavior, even if they are just virtual characters. In digital technologies, avatars are oftentimes considered to inconsequential, and not much thought has been given to this idea. This is among the first studies to look at the effects of these representations on an actual person, ScienceDaily reports.

"When you step into a virtual environment, you can potentially become 'Mario' or whatever other character you are portraying. Oftentimes, the connotations of our own virtual character will subtly remind us of common stereotypes, such as 'bad guys wear black or dress up in hooded robes.' This association may surreptitiously steer users to think and behave more antisocially, but also inhibit more pro-social thoughts and responses in a virtual environment,” says Jorge Pena.

He is an UTA assistant professor in the College of Communication, and also a student of the thoughts, behaviors, and feelings that people can develop while online. Graduate student Nicholas A. Merola, also from UTA and Cornell University professor Jeffrey T. Hancock were also coauthors of a new paper detailing the finds, which will appear in the December 2009 issue of the respected scientific journal Communication Research. The experts say that the anti-social thoughts that avatars wake up in people are not necessarily triggered by the character's external appearance.

“By manipulating the appearance of the avatar, you can augment the probability of people thinking and behaving in predictable ways without raising suspicion. Thus, you can automatically make a virtual encounter more competitive or cooperative by simply changing the connotations of one's avatar,” Pena says. According to the investigator, video game and combat simulation developers could have a lot to draw from the new study. Pena concludes that the research could potentially be implemented in future online games that will bring a far better experience to their players.