Influence of Avatar Creation on Attitude, Empathy, Presence, and Para-Social Interaction

Transcription

1 Influence of Avatar Creation on Attitude, Empathy, Presence, and Para-Social Interaction Donghun Chung 1, Brahm Daniel debuys 2, and Chang S. Nam 3 1 School of Communication Kwangwoon University Wolgye-Dong, Nowon-Gu, Seoul Korea donghunc@uark.edu 2 Department of Communication University of Arkansas 417 Kimpel Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701, U.S.A bdebuys@uark.edu 3 Department of Industrial Engineering University of Arkansas 4207 Bell Engineering Center, Fayetteville, AR 72701, U.S.A cnam@uark.edu Abstract. The present paper focuses on the influence of avatar creation in a video game. More specifically, this study investigates the effects of avatar creation on attitude towards avatar, empathy, presence, and para-social interaction of female non-game users. As a cyber-self, an avatar is a graphic character representing a user in cyberspace. Avatars are primarily used in the entertainment industry as high-tech novelties, controlled by game users, for high-end video games. Some games provide game characters by default that users cannot change, but other games provide various options gamers can choose. What if game users can create their own avatars? Do they have more psychological closeness with their avatars as their cyber-selves? This study tested the differences of attitude, empathy, presence, and para-social interaction of female non-game users between an avatar creation group and a non-avatar creation group and resulted in no difference. Keywords: Avatar, Attitude, Empathy, Presence, Para-Social Interaction, Wii. 1 Introduction An avatar is a graphic icon representing a user in three dimensional (3D) or virtual reality games and chat rooms [1]. It is also defined as a picture, drawing, or icon that users choose to represent themselves [2]. Avatars have been used in various fields such as homepages, messengers, s, games, etc. As a cyber-self, avatars represent users and users show their feelings and moods through their avatars. When an avatar was first introduced, users could choose just a gender and the rest of its characteristics were provided as a default. However, due to the development of interactivity, users can create their own avatars and decorate them by purchasing various accessories, for instance pants, shirts, hats, rings, etc. [3]. J. Jacko (Ed.): Human-Computer Interaction, Part I, HCII 2007, LNCS 4550, pp , Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007

2 712 D. Chung, B.D. debuys, and C.S. Nam Many games also provide users with a variety of avatars and options for creation. Avatars play an important role in gaming because gamers are visually exposed to their avatars. Consciously or unconsciously, gamers interact with their avatars and this interaction directly or indirectly affects entertainment. The role of game character/avatar creation was investigated in a few studies. For instance, Cordova and Lepper [4] found its importance in motivation and engagement in learning, and Lim [5] found that avatar choice leads to greater arousal and identification. In the continuation of those studies, the present research investigated the influence of avatar creation in interactive video games. More specifically, we examined attitude towards avatar, empathy, presence, and para-social interaction as outcomes of avatar creation. 2 Literature Reviews Little research has been done to examine the role of avatar creation, but identification with game characters has been examined [6] [7] [8]. The research has shown that various gaming situations (such as violent, story-based, and the third person POV (point of view) games) increase the level of identification with the characters. Most interestingly, Lim [5] found that avatar choice leads to greater identification. So what other outcomes will avatar creation bring about? One possible variable is attitude. Many variables influence attitude formation. Attitude formation refers to the transition from having no attitude towards a given object to having some attitude towards it, either positive or negative [9]. Many researchers examined cognitive processes to find out various factors to determine attitude formation. As a predisposition, attitude is formed when people have feelings toward an object, so personal experience is one of the most important factors. Indeed, according to Breer and Locke s task-experience theory [10], when someone works to achieve a goal, nature of task (easy or hard), operations (individually or collectively), and outcome (success or fail) will shape attitudes. When gamers create their avatars, they feel a more unique experience than when they just receive an assigned avatar. Indeed, if gamers pleasantly spend time and endeavor to create their avatars at ease and are satisfied with it, they will more likely have positive attitude. Therefore, we hypothesized that: H1. Gamers who create their own avatar will have more positive attitude towards it than gamers who receive an avatar by default. Tamborini and his colleagues [11] state that there are nearly as many definitions of empathy as there are individuals attempting to study it. However, as a multidimensional construct, empathy has been examined in affective and cognitive dimensions. Cognitive dimension is a process by which we imaginatively place ourselves in another person s situation such as perspective taking and fictional involvement. Affective dimension is a process associated with a tendency to experience strong emotional reactions to another person s pain or misfortune such as empathic concern and emotional contagion. Zillmann [12] noted that a viewer s affective response to a media message was dependent on the veridicality of the portrayal of the circumstances that fostered the emotions of a character on screen.

3 Influence of Avatar Creation 713 Cummins [13] interpretation is that the audio-visual presentations characteristic of contemporary electronic media have the potential to generate the greatest sense of veridicality and thus have great potential for eliciting affective responses. From this perspective, people who create their own avatar are supposed to have a greater sense of veridicality because they create it based on their realistic ideas and greater affective responses. Therefore, we hypothesized that: H2. Gamers who create their own avatar will have greater empathy than gamers who receive an avatar by default. Many scholars in various fields have different approaches to understanding presence. To explicate the concept of presence, the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR), which is a community of scholars interested in the presence concept, has revised a conceptual definition of presence. According to ISPR [14], presence is defined as a psychological state or subjective perception in which, even though part or all of an individual's current experience is generated by and/or filtered through human-made technology, part or all of the individual's perception fails to accurately acknowledge the role of the technology in the experience. Lombard and Ditton [15] pointed out that presence is the perception of non-mediation. In the early stage of conceptualizing presence, Witmer and Singer [16] noted that involvement and immersion are necessary for experiencing presence. They defined involvement and immersion as similar psychological processes. Involvement is defined as a psychological state experienced as a consequence of focusing one s energy and attention on a coherent set of stimuli or meaningfully related activities and events. On the other hand, immersion is characterized by perceiving oneself to be enveloped by, included in, and able to interact with an environment that provides a continuous stream of stimuli and experiences. The two are distinguished from one another in that involvement depends on focusing one s attention and energy on a coherent set of stimuli while immersion depends on perceiving oneself as a part of the stimulus flow. Witmer and Singer propose that a valid measure of presence should address factors that influence involvement as well as those that affect immersion. So what is the role of avatars in presence? Lim [5] used a two way ANOVA test with avatar choice and visual point of view (POV), she found that avatar choice leads to a greater sense of presence in the third person point of view. Therefore, we hypothesized that: H3. Gamers who create their own avatar will have a greater sense of presence than gamers who receive an avatar by default. Horton and Wohl [17] conceptualized para-social interaction as the imaginary oneway relationship that viewers develop with people on television. Scholars have examined (imaginary) relationships between reporters and viewers, anchors and viewers, TV characters and viewers, and so on. Recently, Klimmt and his colleague [18] examined how people perceive their avatars as interaction partners using the para-social interaction perspective. The Basic concept of para-social interaction is that media users psychologically interact with characters appearing on-screen and much literature has shown that para-social interaction is developed by frequent exposure. Therefore, if people are more exposed to their avatars by creating their own, it was

4 714 D. Chung, B.D. debuys, and C.S. Nam supposed that the avatar creation group would have a greater sense of para-social interaction. Therefore, we hypothesized that: H4. Gamers who create their own avatar will have a greater sense of para-social interaction than gamers who receive an avatar by default. 3 Console Games In the world of next-generation home gaming systems, the emphasis has been on increasing graphical capabilities and processing speed. The XBOX 360 was the first next-generation system to be released to the public (2005). It boasts a dual-layer DVD-ROM that enables HD quality graphics ( /index.html?type=tech). Its processing speed is 3.2 GHz. The PlayStation 3 (PS3) was released at the end of 2006 and is struggling to catch up to the commercial success of the 360. It has a Blu-ray BD-ROM, which also enables HD quality graphics. Its processing speed is also 3.2 GHz, though with a different processor than the 360. Both the PS3 and XBOX 360 can play DVDs. In an attempt to get back into the highly competitive video game market, Nintendo realized that they couldn t keep up with the hardware capabilities of the PS3 and the XBOX 360. Nintendo decided to approach home gaming from a different perspective, emphasizing playability and interactivity over enhanced visual capabilities. The Nintendo Wii is what emerged from such an attempt to change the way video games are perceived. The Wii has several significant differences from the other next-gen gaming platforms (wii.nintendo.com). For one thing, it is very small, at 8.5 cm x 6 cm x 2 cm and 3.84 lbs. It also has wireless connectivity. The Wii is backwardscompatible with the previous Nintendo system (the Gamecube) and many of the games from previous Nintendo systems will be available for download. The ability to play older games with limited graphical capabilities and relatively simplistic gaming features is consistent with Nintendo s focus on gameplay over graphics. The most innovative feature of the Nintendo Wii is the controller, called the Wii Remote. It contains sophisticated motion-sensing technology that enables a variety of gaming functions. You can swing the controller like a tennis racket to play a tennis game. You can grab the controller with both hands and steer it like a steering wheel. You can point and shoot in first-person shooters. With an additional controller connected to the Remote, you can box an opponent by engaging in a punching and blocking motion using both hands. The Nunchuk is an additional controller for the other hand that is connected to the Remote. The Nunchuk has an analog joystick to control fine movements, so that motion can be controlled by the left hand while the right hand engages in swinging motions, jabbing movements, or whatever is appropriate for the game. The Nunchuk also contains motion-sensing technology, so controller movements can involve both hands at once. The Remote also contains other features that may contribute to a more immersive experience. It has a rumble feature to supply kinesthetic feedback. The Remote also has a speaker build into the controller itself. Both the Remote and the Nunchuk have an ambidextrous nature that allows for right- or left-handed players to use them with equal facility. The controllers are wireless and interact with the system

5 Influence of Avatar Creation 715 using Bluetooth technology via a sensor bar that perches on top or in front of the television. The sensor bar can pick up motion from up to 30 feet away. However, unlike XBOX 360 and PS3, the Wii can only play Wii discs and Gamecube discs and resolution is limited with the Wii (480p) compared to the high definition available for the PS3 and XBOX 360 (1080i) ( Nintendo_Wii/ _ html?tag=sub). All three systems have wireless controllers. 4 Method 4.1 Participants and Procedure Since many game studies have shown that gender and game experience are significant variables having different outcomes, this research controlled for the gender and game experience factors. Therefore, only non-game female users were applicable to this research. Also, participants must not have a pre-existing avatar because avatar creation is a manipulation in this research. Finally, sixteen female undergraduate students having no game experience were drawn from a few communication classes at a large university. Ages ranged from 19 to 25 and the average age was (SD=1.57). All participants filled out a consent form and then entered into a game lab which had a TV set, Nintendo Wii, and home theater system. As an experimental group, only participants who were randomly assigned to an avatar creation group created their avatars for 6 minutes. Participants who were assigned to a non-avatar creation group as a control group just received a default avatar. Since the game provided 3 different default female avatars, we assigned the third female avatar to females in the control group to avoid any internal validity threat. Overall, each group had eight participants. Many options are available to customize an avatar (known on the Nintendo Wii as a Mii). There are 45 initial random faces to choose from, and then participants can keep choosing from 9 altered versions of the face until Use this face is chosen. There are then 9 screens of options to choose from. The initial screen contains Nickname, Favorite (outfit color), Gender, Birthday, Favorite Color (12 options), Mingle (choose whether to let your avatar interact with other avatars), and Mii Creator. The second screen has to do with Body Type. Height and Weight can both be altered along a sliding scale. The third screen has to do with Face. Shape (8 options), Facial Characteristics (12), and Color (6) can all be altered. The fourth screen has to do with Hair. Style (72), Color (8), and the Side of the Part can be altered. The fifth screen has to do with Eyebrows. Type (24), Color (8), Up/Down Placement, Size, Rotation, and Left/Right Placement can be altered. The sixth screen has to do with Eyes. Type (48), Color (6), Up/Down Placement, Size, Rotation, and Left/Right Placement can be altered. The seventh screen has to do with Nose. Type (12), Up/Down Placement, and Size can be altered. The eighth screen has to do with Mouth. Type (24), Color (3), Up/Down Placement, and Size can be altered. Finally, the last has to do with Accessories. Glasses (Type (9), Color (6), Up/Down Placement, and Size), Mustache (Type (4), Color (8), Up/Down Placement, and Size), Mole (Type (2), Up/Down Placement, Size, and Left/Right Placement), and Beard

6 716 D. Chung, B.D. debuys, and C.S. Nam Type (4) and Color (8)) can all be altered. Participants in the avatar creation group experienced all these functions and created their own avatars. After participants had their avatars in both groups, a researcher explained how to play a tennis game. The researcher showed them how to serve, do a forehand, and do a backhand. They were asked to play the tennis game for 5 minutes as a training session. All of the lights were turned off and the researcher helped guide them during that time. After this training session, participants played alone for 15 minutes. At the end of the gaming session, participants were given a main questionnaire that asked about attitude towards avatar, presence, empathy, and para-social interaction. 4.2 Instruments The participants were questioned about attitude towards avatar, empathy, presence, and para-social interaction. Attitude towards avatar had four items which measure participants general feeling of favorableness or unfavorableness for their avatar. A five-point semantic differential scale was employed and all items were retained: I think that my avatar is useless/useful, unimportant/important, foolish/wise, and unpleasant/pleasant. It was found to be reliable (M=3.36, SD=0.71, α=.72). Empathy was operationally defined as feeling the same way that an observed avatar is feeling and eight items were newly created such as when my avatar was happy, I was Fig. 1. Overview of the experimental condition

7 Influence of Avatar Creation 717 happy, my emotional state affected the interaction of my avatar and myself, etc. Two items were deleted and the measure was reliable (M=2.71, SD=0.73, α=.84). Presence had fourteen items based on Witmer and Singer s presence measure (1998) which asked about involvement and immersion in the gaming environment. All of the items were newly created and retained. It was reliable (M=3.03, SD=0.83, α=.94). Lastly, based on Rubin and Perse [19], para-social interaction was revised. Para-social interaction between gamers and game characters was measured by eight items and all of the items were retained and reliable (M=2.46, SD=0.90, α=.91). Empathy, presence, and para-social interaction used a five-point Likert scale. The Nintendo Wii was chosen for this research, based on its greater interactivity compared with other systems. A LG 42 inch LCD TV was used with the Wii. It is 46.3 x 30.2 x 11.8 (in) and 90.4 (lbs) with the stand. The resolution is 1366 x 768 (Dot) and the television system is NTSC-M, ATSC, 64 & 256 QAM. For better sound, A Panasonic SA-HT940 home theater system was used. It has 5 +1 channels. Fig. 2. I can t see my avatar 5 Results Results showed that no hypothesis was supported. First, there was no significant difference in attitude between avatar creation (M=3.31, SD=.61) and non-avatar creation groups (M=3.41, SD=.83), t(14)=-.26, ns, two-tailed. Second, between avatar creation (M=2.92, SD=.57) and non-avatar creation groups (M=2.5, SD=.85), there was no significant difference of empathy t(14)=1.16, ns, two-tailed. Third, there was

8 718 D. Chung, B.D. debuys, and C.S. Nam no significant difference in presence between avatar creation (M=2.82, SD=.67) and non-avatar creation groups (M=3.04, SD=1.04), t(14)=-.49, ns, two-tailed. Lastly, no significant difference was found in para-social interaction between avatar creation (M=2.78, SD=.86) and non-avatar creation groups (M=2.14, SD=.88). t(14)=1.48, ns, two-tailed. 6 Discussion The goal of the present study was to find out the influence of avatar creation on attitude, empathy, presence, and para-social interaction. In order to answer this question, we divided the participants into the two groups of avatar creation and nonavatar creation and compared the outcomes. The avatar creation group created their own avatar while the non-avatar creation group received a default avatar. The results showed that no hypothesis was supported. There may be a few reasons why there were no differences between the avatar creation and non-avatar creation groups. First, the sample might not have been appropriate. Having only female participants might be a reason why there were no significant effects. According to Lim [5], gender of the game player was a significant factor that determined many aspects of the game play experience, both physiologically and subjectively. More specifically, males exhibited more significant outcomes than females in arousal, heart rate, and valence, and females physiological responses did not depend on avatar choice. However, this research recruited only females because it was hard to find male non-game users. Since creating an avatar is a manipulation in this research, we sought people who did not play games and who did not have an avatar. In the preliminary study, we found that most male students enjoyed gaming and had an avatar, so we limited participants to females. Given that in the preliminary research the average video game self efficacy score, which is a person s judgment of her ability to play video games, was below the midpoint of the measurement scale (M=2.80, SD=.89), the data might show that female non-game users were not appropriate participants because they were not confident in playing the game. Second, the tennis game itself was too simplistic. Playing a simple game can be an advantage as well as disadvantage in gaming research. The reasons that we chose this game were that participants were non-game users and females. We wanted them to be familiar with an easy game immediately following the five minute training session. Cordova and Lepper [4] found that with a more challenging game, greater use of complex operations and greater strategic play had significant outcomes in the participants motivations and engagement. Since the tennis game had simple operations, low difficulty, and no strategy, the participants might not have significant difference in presence, empathy, and para-social interaction between the two groups. It may be a good idea to ask perceived ease of use for gaming, which means the degree to which the user feels the game to be easy or free of effort. Third, the manipulation might not be enough. The experimental group was supposed to spend six minutes to create their avatars, but it was hard to know if they really spent the whole time creating their avatars. The experimental group was also told that all nine screens of options should be clicked and used, but again, we had no

9 Influence of Avatar Creation 719 way to check up on it. Unfortunately, it is hard to know the role of the manipulation because we did not ask how they felt about creating avatar. Fourth, two very important problems existed in terms of avatars. First, the avatars were facing away from the participants during game play so they did not even see their creation s face, and all of the characters looked pretty much the same from the back <Figure 2>. They also did not get to dress up their avatars, something very popular in avatar use. Second, the cartoonish nature of the avatars may take away from the realism of the experience. Although the Wii tennis game provides gamers with many options, it is hard to make it resemble a real person. This is important because empathy has a veridicality issue and if they made their avatars without any consideration about themselves, it might be hard to get empathy. Finally, longitudinal research is necessary. Basically speaking, para-social interaction is discovered through repeated exposure in a relatively long term situation[13]. Just one, fifteen-minute episode of gaming is not sufficient to identify with the avatar. Though the results were inconclusive in the present study, it is believed that with a longitudinal study, more realistic avatars, and a game in which avatar interaction is maximized, the results will show that avatar creation influences attitude towards avatar, empathy, presence, and para-social interaction. References 1. Nowak, K.: The Influence of Anthropomorphism on Mental Models of Agents and Avatars in Social Virtual Environments. Unpublished Dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing Michigan (2000) 2. Suler, J.: The Psychology of Avatars and Graphical Space in Multimedia Chat Communities (1997) Online. Retrieved February 8, 2007 from suler/ psycyber/psyav.html 3. Chung, D.: Something for Nothing: Understanding Purchasing Behaviors in Social Virtual Environments. CyberPsychology & Behavior 6, (2005) 4. Cordova, D.I., Lepper, M.R.: Intrinsic Motivation and the Process of Learning: Beneficial Effects of Contextualization, Personalization, and Choice. Journal of Educational Psychology, (1996) 5. Lim, S.: The Effect of Avatar Choice and Visual POV on Game Play Experiences. Unpublished Dissertation, Stanford University, California (2006) 6. Tamborini, R.: The Experience of Telepresence in Violent Video Games. In: Paper presented at the 86th annual convention of the National Communication Association, Seattle Washington (2000) 7. Tamborini, R., Eastin, M., Lachlan, K., Fediuk, T., Brady, R., Skalski, P.: The Effects of Violent Virtual Video Games on Aggressive Thoughts and Behaviors. In: Paper presented at the 86th annual convention of the National Communication Association, Seattle Washington (2000) 8. Schneider, E.F., Lang, A., Shin, M., Bradley, S.D.: Death with a Story: How Story Impacts Emotional, Motivational, and Physiological Responses to First Person Shooter Video Games. Human Communication Research 30(3), (2004) 9. Oskamp, S., Schultz, P.W.: Attitudes and Opinions, 3rd edn. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah New Jersey (2005)

10 720 D. Chung, B.D. debuys, and C.S. Nam 10. Breer, P.E., Locke, E.A.: Task Experience as a Source of Attitudes. Dorsey Press, Homewood Illinois (1965) 11. Tamborini, R., Salomonson, K., Bahk, C.: The Relationship of Empathy to Comforting Behavior Following Film Exposure. Communication Research 20(5), (1993) 12. Zillmann, D.: Empathy: Affect from Bearing Witness to the Emotions of Others. In: Bryant, J., Zillmann, D. (eds.) Responding to the Screen: Reception and Reaction Processes, pp Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah New Jersey (1991) 13. Cummins, R.G.: The Entertainment Appeal of Reality Television: The Effect of Direct Address on Empathy, Interactivity, Presence, and Entertainment Value. Unpublished Dissertation, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (2005) 14. International Society for Presence Research. The Concept of Presence: Explication Statement (2000). Online. Retrieved (February 10, 2006) from Lombard, M., Ditton, T.: At the Heart of It All: The Concept of Presence. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(2) (1997) 16. Witmer, B.G., Singer, M.J.: Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 7(3), (1998) 17. Horton, D., Wohl, R.R.: Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction. Observations on Intimacy at a Distance. Psychiatry 19(3), (1956) 18. Klimmt, C., Hartmann, T., Schramm, H., Vorderer, P.: The Perception of Avatars: Parasocial Interactions with Digital Characters. In: Paper presented at the 53rd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, San Diego California (2003) 19. Rubin, A.M., Perse, E.M.: Audience Activity and Soap Opera Involvement. Human Communication Research 14(2), (1987)

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