Researchers conduct gaming analysis

Researchers found that the appearance of avatars in video games and other virtual platforms affects the way a user plays the game, according to a study released in September.

The study, which is available online and will appear in the December 2009 issue of “Communication Research,” was conducted by two researchers at UT, Jorge Pena and Nicholas Merola, and Cornell University professor Jeffrey Hancock. It consisted of two experiments.

In the first, 51 participants were randomly assigned either a dark- or white-cloaked avatar and were separated into two groups by cloak color.

“We wanted to see how cues from the color of an avatar’s clothing were able to prime the user,” said Merola, a doctoral student in communications. “The results showed that compared to the people using avatars dressed in white, people using avatars dressed in black showed more negative intentions and attitudes.”

In the second study, 100 participants were assigned avatars dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member, a doctor or transparent. They were shown an ambiguous picture and asked to write a story about the scene they saw. Merola said those dressed as Klan members wrote stories with more aggressive themes, like murder.

“It’s not something we are constantly aware of, but at the same time, in the back of our minds, we have some understanding of what’s going on,” Merola said.

If players are given the opportunity to choose their avatar, Merola said the effect they found in the study would be even stronger, as their actions ­— good and bad ­— would be more intentional.

Pena, the communications professor who conducted the study, said the researchers were asked a series of in-depth questions after the experiments were completed to gauge whether they were aware of the researchers’ intentions.

Pena said that participants in the first experiment thought the test was about decision-making, and those in the second thought it was a personality study.

Andrew Dillon, dean of the School of Information, said the way people choose to dress corresponds with their personalities. He said a person’s appearance both evokes certain responses from others and affects how he or she interacts with people.

“What you are seeing in a virtual world is a natural extension, I believe, of how humans convey and react to each other in the real world,” Dillon said. “It is both conscious, as in the choices we make to convey ourselves, and unconscious in how we act and react.”

Merola said the research would be most helpful to video-game designers, as it gives them more of an idea about what to include in a game to trigger a certain reaction.

“It speaks a little bit to how the way we appear [in a virtual setting] affects the way we think about ourselves and feel about ourselves,” Merola said.

Jonathan Begnaud, an undeclared junior and gamer, said when he first started gaming, he chose avatars that were most similar to himself. Now, he looks for characters with similar fighting styles to his favorite character of the past — the one who fought with yo-yos in “Guilty Gear.” In “Street Fighter III,” he plays as an anime-looking woman in a white karate outfit.

“I myself am more of what they call a ‘turtle,’” Begnaud said. “A turtle is someone who walks a lot and takes less risks.”

Although his white outfit and passive style fit in line with the researchers’ findings, he doesn’t think the outfit affects the way he plays.

“The tools she actually has to play the game affect how I play,” Begnaud said.

2 comments

Jim

Sat Nov 21 2009 08:15

Trivial stuff. I am surprised people call this 'research'.

Seung

Thu Nov 19 2009 22:51

This is a cool stuff. This investigation is certainly warranted!

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