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Szolin, K. 
ORCID: 0000-0003-2494-3719,
2024.
When worlds collide: exploring the user-avatar relationship in videogames.
PhD, Nottingham Trent University.
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Abstract
Videogames, in one form or another, have existed from as early as the 1950s, with computer systems designed to create simple simulations of games such as noughts and crosses or tennis. Since then, videogames have developed into a multi-billion dollar industry with a very large numbers of players across the world. A key component of many modern online videogames is the avatar, which is the digital representation of the player and the means through which they may interact with or navigate through a virtual environment. However, far from merely being a tool to navigate a virtual world, individuals can often develop strong and complex relationships with their videogame characters. Moreover, while the user may exert a substantial degree of control over their avatar in terms of factors such as appearance and behaviour, this relationship dynamic may also be bi-directional. In particular, videogame avatars may be able to influence and change the attitudes and behaviour of the player through a phenomenon referred to as the Proteus effect (PE).
The overall aims of this thesis were to: (i) examine the user-avatar relationship in videogames; (ii) explore the relationship between GD and the PE; and (iii) investigate how the PE may manifest in videogames. These aims were addressed through two systematic literature reviews and three empirical studies using a mixed method approach.
The first systematic literature review explored the consequences of the PE specifically in the context of videogames. A total of 17 peer-reviewed studies were identified that met this chapter’s inclusion criteria. The results showed that the consequences of the PE may affect a user both in-game and post-game in terms of their behaviour and attitudes leading to substantial changes to factors such as socio-political views, gender-conforming behaviours, self-perceptions, and game performance. In addition, this review chapter details a number of factors which contribute to the strength and likelihood of the PE occurring in this context, including immersion, avatar customisation, embodiment, and avatar self-relevance.
The second systematic literature review investigated virtual world avatars and the dynamics of the user-avatar relationship in the context of GD. A total of 15 peer-reviewed studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. The results showed a consistent positive association between avatar identification and GD across many of the studies. Gamers with GD often design an avatar to resemble their vision of their ideal self, and the avatar can be used as a means to reduce self-discrepancy between the actual and ideal self as well as compensate for perceived physical-world inadequacies. Moreover, the review highlighted how an individual’s view of their ideal self in the context of the user-avatar relationship may extend beyond the limitations of what may be achievable in the physical world and include elements of fantasy derived from a game world.
The first empirical study analysed qualitative data using thematic analysis. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 12 videogame players from the UK and US aged between 18 and 27 years. The results identified five major themes, comprising: (i) heterogeneity of game worlds; (ii) avatar attachment; (iii) game experiences affecting physical world behaviour and attitudes; (iv) types of self in a virtual world (with the sub-themes of actual self, idealised self, and utopian self); and (v) game difficulty affecting user-avatar relationship. The results showed gamers use their avatars as a means to insert a virtual version of themselves into the videogame or to attain a desired version of the self, sometimes including elements of fantasy. In addition, participants indicated that games with an advanced difficulty and avatar customisation appeared to facilitate stronger bonds to a character. Finally, several avenues of future research are discussed, in particular pertaining to the advancement of research relating to the PE.
The second empirical study was a pseudo-experimental study to explore the PE and the impact that avatar gender can have on an individual’s gameplay experience in Fallout: New Vegas. A total of 353 participants were recruited using an online survey measuring three previously unexplored gameplay behaviours, comprising (i) number of quests completed, (ii) number of locations discovered, and (iii) number of non-player characters (NPCs) or enemies killed. The results of the study indicated that players controlling an avatar of the same gender to their physical selves demonstrated a significantly greater performance across the variables of quest completion and location discovery than players controlling an avatar of a different gender. Furthermore, a newly identified potential PE consequence was found in terms of the number of NPCs or enemies killed, with players controlling a female avatar achieving a significantly higher score on this measure irrespective of the physical world gender of the user.
The final empirical study was a correlational study using multiple mediation analysis focused on exploring the relationship between the PE and Gaming Disorder (GD) as well as investigating the previously untested potential mediating effects of different facets of the user-avatar relationship. A total of 378 online gamers completed an online survey that assessed GD, the PE, and the strength of user-avatar relationships. The results of the study indicated a significant positive relationship between GD and the PE, and this was partially mediated by user-avatar relationships. In addition, the domains of core and proto self-presence were individually found to be significant mediators in the relationship between GD and the PE. The findings provide novel insights into the association between GD and the PE.
Drawing together the findings from these two systematic literature reviews and three empirical studies, these studies provide unique and original insight into the relationship that can develop between a user and their videogame avatar. Furthermore, these studies offer new and supporting evidence for the association between GD and the PE as well as greatly expanding current understanding and knowledge of the PE phenomenon using innovative research methods, and provide valuable direction for future research in these topic areas.
| Item Type: | Thesis | ||||||||||||||||
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| Creators: | Szolin, K. | ||||||||||||||||
| Contributors: |
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| Date: | 2024 | ||||||||||||||||
| Rights: | This work is the intellectual property of the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed in the owner(s) of the Intellectual Property Rights. | ||||||||||||||||
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Social Sciences | ||||||||||||||||
| Record created by: | Melissa Cornwell | ||||||||||||||||
| Date Added: | 04 Oct 2024 13:09 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last Modified: | 04 Oct 2024 13:09 | ||||||||||||||||
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52359 |
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