Authors:
Tomoko Koda
and
Ryosuke Oguri
Affiliation:
Department of Information Science and Technology, Osaka Institute of Technology, Osaka and Japan
Keyword(s):
Agents, Avatars, Computer-mediated Communication, Proteus Effect, Virtual Environments, Serious Games, Transformed Social Interaction, Avatar Chat, Appearances, Personality.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Agents
;
Artificial Intelligence
;
Conversational Agents
Abstract:
Proteus effect is known as a phenomenon in which the personality and behavior of an individual, within online virtual worlds, is changed by the appearances of their avatar. This paper reports whether Proteus effect is applicable to accompanying avatars with whom a user's avatar interacts in a virtual world. The results indicated that Proteus effect was applicable to those who perceived the avatar was their alter-ego, while those who did not was not affected by the appearance of the avatar. The results suggest the importance of considering avatar’s and agent’s appearances and user’s personality in serious games, online virtual worlds, and avatar-mediated online communications.