Yee and Bailenson described the Proteus Effect as the hypothesis that an individual's behavior conforms to their digital self-representation (avatar) independent of how other perceive them (real life). From my experience with Second Life, I would have to agree.
In their two experiments, they highlighted two aspects which control one's behavior in the digital world: Avatar attractiveness and height in regards to negotiation behavior. They found that people, for the most part, decided to choose an avatar that was highly attractive. They also found, that those who chose avatars of normal height were least likely to accept an "unfair offer." They described an unfair offer as one with the intent to manipulate the participant.
By chance, my avatar happened to be an average height (5'10") highly attractive rapper (I'm one myself) that went around for about an hour and a half spitting game to females and making other friends I thought were the coolest of the bunch. Due to my attractiveness, I felt behavioral confirmation was necessary. My attractiveness had a great deal to do with how I decided to behave because I wanted to feel comfortable, accepted. I wanted to be popular and even though this is a digital world, in real life, I want to have the same type of reputation especially since I feel I'm in competition with others for friends. Morally, it shouldn't be this way but sometimes people dodge morals for benefits (refering back to the O'Sullivan reading).
Unfortuantely for many rappers, they weren't born being tall and for the sake of maintaining some credibility with my avatar, I decided to be average height. After I read Yee and Bailenson, I was happy to see that my height actually had a correlation with my "successful game spitting." In this case, I would call asking for dates and obtaining friends a "negotiation behavior." It always feels good to not be alone and that's what many strive for both in Second Life and in the real world. This is why it isn't surprising that being "average" attracts the most friends. People want to associate with someone like them so overall being average is the way to go.
Speaking of my great Second Life negotiational skills, I still have some Second Life dates to attend to. Hopefully that doesn't lead to PIU!
Peace
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6 comments:
Saidu,
Really great post! I really like how you decided to be average height as that would give people the impression that you wanted them to have. It’s pretty interesting that being “average” online attracts people to you. I guess it’s because it’s easier to relate to, and, like you said, people don’t want to be alone. Do you think that other players are more likely to believe your avatar and think that you are similar to your character if you play choose to have a more average person? Personally, I think I would be more comfortable talking to someone who I didn’t think was lying too much about their appearance and thus changing their behavior in the online space. I also think it’s interesting that you decided to have an avatar that portrays your actual self. It sounds like it didn’t change your behavior as much as it affected how others see you. And, apparently, people were pretty happy with the online you seeing as you have Second Life dates! Good for you, Saidu. :)
Hey Saidu,
Nice to see rappers are being represented in the digital realm! Freestyling must be a little contrived what with the extra cognitive resources of a CMC interaction and all, but overall I'm sure it works out pretty well. I think that you hit on something very interesting if it is indeed true that people prefer "average looking" avatars online because it seems less likely that a person is lying. I have two reservations with this idea though: 1) if everyone prefers the "average looker" then this preference must be spread out over a very large number of people, making it insignificant as a "preference," i.e., it's like saying people prefer avatars in general. My other concern is that, what's to say that the average avatar is identical to the average person? The average second life avatar could theoretically be a horse, or some crazy thing. Anyways, nice second life experience, it sounds like you had a good time.
I really enjoyed reading your post. You did a good job describing your second life experience and relating your findings with the Yee and Bailenson article. The attractiveness of the avatar definitely enhances one’s confidence level and increases social interactions with others. I liked how you pointed out that people who were deemed more attractive and of normal weight were less likely to accept an “unfair offer”. This is a great point. People who lack self-confidence and yearn to fit in will be more likely agree to such an offer as they are more willing to do something they may not want to do in order to ensure social acceptance. This is true not only in second life but in real life as well. Having good social presence affects the community and the atmosphere present as it becomes more welcoming and relationship friendly (Proteus effect). This may explain my experience in second life. I witnessed many people with attractive avatars and having one myself, I found the social life was geared more towards forming intimate relationships than wanting to make lots of casual friendships. I rarely saw an unattractive avatar which I guess isn’t surprising after reading the Yee and Bailenson article. People want to fit in and be popular as you described. If someone is veiwed in a negative manner in real life, they forget those unwanted conceptions about them and gain the attention they want (and deserve) in online gaming sites. Again, great post!
Very interesting post. I spit mad game myself sometimes. I think its interesting that you created a personality before you picked an avatar. How much do you think this influenced the selection of your character? It kind of goes against the grain of the Yee and Bailenson research, but it is an interesting topic in itself. I think that you probably gained a lot of friends due to your forward behavior rather than the looks of your avatar. It would be interesting to look at this further. I don’t know how much I totally agreed with the height aspect of the research. I feel like since its not in first person perspective, height doesn’t matter as much as it does in real life. Overall, nice post. I enjoyed both your ideas and self confidence.
Saidu,
Great job! It's interesting to see how you said you were of average height just to capture a certain response from the public. Furthermore, being average was unquestionable a perfect "pick-up" tool online. Maybe because now that you are average, you can relate to others who are also just average. Average is a very interesting word- it definitely brings together the public, in whatever context you use use it in. Furthermore, I liked the whole idea of using a rapper as your avatar. Definitely a different spin on things.
I really liked how you incorporated Lee and Vailenson’s theory in your experience playing on Second Life. It’s interesting to note that you thought 5’10” was the average height for a male because I would have considered it as being pretty tall; I guess it's all relative and has something to do with the race that the perceiver comes from because the averages for males and females might be different. In addition, I would like to know why you chose to be a rapper in Second Life. It makes sense that you took into account the attractiveness of the typical rapper when forming Second Life's avatar to increase his credibility as a rapper; however, it would be interesting to see whether an uncanny looking avatar, who doesn’t fit the typical rapper-like look, would be received on a space like Second Life.
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