For this assignment I decided to create an avatar in the virtual environment known as Second Life. I’m pretty unfamiliar with online video games such as this. The closest I’ve come to playing games like this was The Sims, but I never played online with other characters and such. I decided to use Second Life based on my limited knowledge of the game from an episode of The Office that I saw this year. In the episode, Dwight was going through a breakup and turned to Second Life to detach himself from reality, creating a world within the game called Second Second Life. Since I knew that Second Life was the most logical transition from my limited gaming experience with the Sims, I decided to create an avatar within this virtual environment.
I decided to create an avatar that significantly different than my appearance in real life. I am actually a 19-year-old girl, 5’4”, with curly auburn hair, but my avatar was a 5’8”, balding, overweight man. I wanted to create an avatar that could possibly impact my degree of socialization. I thought that if I decided to be a man within Second Life, I may be more dominant and aggressive within the social environment, but if I made myself less traditionally attractive, my confidence would diminish. During my limited time playing Second Life, it was amazing to me how life-like the virtual environment really is. There were so many design options when creating an avatar, and so many choices as to what to do inside the world.
It was interesting playing in Second Life under this avatar, and I can safely say my behavior was affected, much more than I thought it would. Most notably, while I was in a club scene, I was one of the least attractive avatars in the environment. Not only did this make me less confident to initiate conversation, but people were not exactly clamoring to start talking to me either. According to Yee & Bailenson, “the Proteus Effect may impact behavior on the community level.” In other words, this social club scene made perfect sense. Gather a bunch of attractive avatars and the scene should be buzzing. I definitely felt like the odd man out. Yee & Bailenson go on to state, “As graphical avatars become the dominant mode of self-representation in virtual environments, the Proteus Effect may play a substantial role in encouraging hyperpersonal interaction.” My perceptions of the other avatars were extremely exaggerated positively in comparison to the extreme self-consciousness I felt about my own avatar. After playing under an unattractive avatar, it’s easy to see for me why I was one of the few who decided to look less than stellar.
Comment 1 and Comment 2
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
10. Second Life or something like it
For this assignment I decided to give second life a try. I had heard of the program before and knew that many people were addicted to the program so I figured it would be fun to see what it is all about.
I first created my account and made my avtar “the girl next door.” The other avtar images seemed to be very odd and the “girl next door” was the most basic and looked like a character in real life. After creating my avtar I entered the second life site in search of someone to talk to. I was approached by another avtar from Sweden who clearly had altered her physical features because she was wearing a very stylish outfit, different from the basic options. Being a newbie and still looking like the basic “girl next door” I felt strange initiating conversation and did not know what to say. Usually in an instant message you know the other person you are talking to but with Second Life it took me a while to understand there are real people behind the characters.
Speaking to the Swedish avtar made me realize that I could alter my appearance too. I change my outfit and moved away from the basic “girl next door “ option. Reading through the different features I felt that I had a better understanding of what I was doing. I went back in search of other avtars more confident about using second life. I was able to talk to several people and kept initiating conversation. I even found myself lost at one point and some other guy avtar in a car offered to drive me. Although I was able to become a more active participant in the end, I do not think I would ever be able to play and chat to strangers for hours on end. I would much rather talk to people in person.
Yee & Bailenson hypothesize that “an individual’s behavior conforms to their digital self-representation independent of how other perceive them.” This process is the Proteus Effect. In their first experiment they measure attractiveness of avtars in relation to self-disclosure. In their second experiment, they found taller avtars were more confident.
My experience in second life aligns with the work of Yee & Bailenson in experiment 1. As I explained earlier, when I was new to the program and was the basic “girl next door,” I did not have much to say to the Swedish avtar that approached me. After looking at her stylish outfit, I thought I was definitely behind as a Second Life player and after my simple question of “Whats up?” I did not have much else to disclose. However, once I altered my appearance and changed my avtar from the basic girl, I talked to more people and felt more comfortable about making conversation in this online space. Whereas Yee & Bailenson predict that an individual that has a more attractive avtar will act more friendly toward others, I found that the reason I became more friendly is because I looked as if I fit in. As the basic “girl next door” it was evident that I was new to program but after altering my clothes, I appeared as a second life vetern. I think that my action can be attributed to deindividuation. Yee & Ballenson explain in their paper “factors that lead to deinidivudation, such as anonymity, might thus reinforce group salience and conformity to group norms.” By changing to a more advanced avtar, I felt that I stood out less and therefore fit in better as a second life player. I was more anonymous by changing my appearance and conforming to the world of second life.
Their second experiment about taller avtars behaving more confidently did not apply to my avtar. Almost all people that I interacted with in second life were the same height. If anything, my confidence increased as I began to understand the game more. I think the reason that my interaction in second life was not as aligned to the studies of Yee & Bailenson is because I was so new to the program. Second Life has so many features that the first half hour I spent trying to understand all that I could do on the site. Also, as far as attractiveness is concerned, besides clothing difference all of the avtars are attractive in shape and facial features. I think that their studies would prove affective on people that play the game more often and also I think that observing people’s self- concept in real life is important to consider. If a person is short/unattractive and has a tall/attractive avtar does that make a difference in their interaction FTF compared to in the CMC space? Observing offline behavior would make the CMC studies more interesting.
I first created my account and made my avtar “the girl next door.” The other avtar images seemed to be very odd and the “girl next door” was the most basic and looked like a character in real life. After creating my avtar I entered the second life site in search of someone to talk to. I was approached by another avtar from Sweden who clearly had altered her physical features because she was wearing a very stylish outfit, different from the basic options. Being a newbie and still looking like the basic “girl next door” I felt strange initiating conversation and did not know what to say. Usually in an instant message you know the other person you are talking to but with Second Life it took me a while to understand there are real people behind the characters.
Speaking to the Swedish avtar made me realize that I could alter my appearance too. I change my outfit and moved away from the basic “girl next door “ option. Reading through the different features I felt that I had a better understanding of what I was doing. I went back in search of other avtars more confident about using second life. I was able to talk to several people and kept initiating conversation. I even found myself lost at one point and some other guy avtar in a car offered to drive me. Although I was able to become a more active participant in the end, I do not think I would ever be able to play and chat to strangers for hours on end. I would much rather talk to people in person.
Yee & Bailenson hypothesize that “an individual’s behavior conforms to their digital self-representation independent of how other perceive them.” This process is the Proteus Effect. In their first experiment they measure attractiveness of avtars in relation to self-disclosure. In their second experiment, they found taller avtars were more confident.
My experience in second life aligns with the work of Yee & Bailenson in experiment 1. As I explained earlier, when I was new to the program and was the basic “girl next door,” I did not have much to say to the Swedish avtar that approached me. After looking at her stylish outfit, I thought I was definitely behind as a Second Life player and after my simple question of “Whats up?” I did not have much else to disclose. However, once I altered my appearance and changed my avtar from the basic girl, I talked to more people and felt more comfortable about making conversation in this online space. Whereas Yee & Bailenson predict that an individual that has a more attractive avtar will act more friendly toward others, I found that the reason I became more friendly is because I looked as if I fit in. As the basic “girl next door” it was evident that I was new to program but after altering my clothes, I appeared as a second life vetern. I think that my action can be attributed to deindividuation. Yee & Ballenson explain in their paper “factors that lead to deinidivudation, such as anonymity, might thus reinforce group salience and conformity to group norms.” By changing to a more advanced avtar, I felt that I stood out less and therefore fit in better as a second life player. I was more anonymous by changing my appearance and conforming to the world of second life.
Their second experiment about taller avtars behaving more confidently did not apply to my avtar. Almost all people that I interacted with in second life were the same height. If anything, my confidence increased as I began to understand the game more. I think the reason that my interaction in second life was not as aligned to the studies of Yee & Bailenson is because I was so new to the program. Second Life has so many features that the first half hour I spent trying to understand all that I could do on the site. Also, as far as attractiveness is concerned, besides clothing difference all of the avtars are attractive in shape and facial features. I think that their studies would prove affective on people that play the game more often and also I think that observing people’s self- concept in real life is important to consider. If a person is short/unattractive and has a tall/attractive avtar does that make a difference in their interaction FTF compared to in the CMC space? Observing offline behavior would make the CMC studies more interesting.
10 Identity Crisis of a Miner
Recently, my friend has been trying to get me to play RF Online with him. For those who don't know, it's a MMORPG with a sci-fi setting. I named my character “hotrod4” and I proceeded to choose my avatar's appearance. I choose the Accretia faction and the specialist class. However I soon realized the error of my ways.
When choosing my appearance, there were not much differentiating options for avatars within my class and faction. It seemed like the only way to differentiate my avatar from the others was the color of my singular eye. The test of my individuality continued. Upon entering the game and passing the newbie tutorial, I was greeted by a NPC that told me my job was to mine for minerals. I guess I had to accept that if I was to be a specialist. After entering the mining area, I joined the mass of specialists mining like robots (albeit my faction was basically a robotic race). Soon after, I discovered my clone mining right next to me. After acquiring a couple of ores, I went to hunt some monsters. I began my journey with a pistol, but by the time I returned from grinding, I had obtained a shotgun and new armor. Just as I thought I had proven my individuality, a clone walked by me.
According to Yee and Bailenson's Proteus Effect, my behavior was expected to follow the stereotypical image of my character. When I started mining, I soon realized that all the specialists mined in the same exact spot. I was indeed acting like my role defined in the game space. After my first experience with mining, I decided to try to prove Yee and Bailenson wrong. I was going to hunt and kill instead of mine. Even while hunting and killing, I realized that my actions were akin to the stereotype associated with my avatar. After acquiring a shotgun, I spent 30 minutes doing nothing but killing lower level creatures to show off my overpowering gun. I was behaving more like the commanding image given off by my avatar. Realizing this, I decided to do something different. I returned to mining. I had forgotten that my purpose was to break out of my mining role. Hard as I tried to gain a sense of individuality, I subconsciously returned to conformity. Sigh.
Comment 1
Comment 2
When choosing my appearance, there were not much differentiating options for avatars within my class and faction. It seemed like the only way to differentiate my avatar from the others was the color of my singular eye. The test of my individuality continued. Upon entering the game and passing the newbie tutorial, I was greeted by a NPC that told me my job was to mine for minerals. I guess I had to accept that if I was to be a specialist. After entering the mining area, I joined the mass of specialists mining like robots (albeit my faction was basically a robotic race). Soon after, I discovered my clone mining right next to me. After acquiring a couple of ores, I went to hunt some monsters. I began my journey with a pistol, but by the time I returned from grinding, I had obtained a shotgun and new armor. Just as I thought I had proven my individuality, a clone walked by me.
According to Yee and Bailenson's Proteus Effect, my behavior was expected to follow the stereotypical image of my character. When I started mining, I soon realized that all the specialists mined in the same exact spot. I was indeed acting like my role defined in the game space. After my first experience with mining, I decided to try to prove Yee and Bailenson wrong. I was going to hunt and kill instead of mine. Even while hunting and killing, I realized that my actions were akin to the stereotype associated with my avatar. After acquiring a shotgun, I spent 30 minutes doing nothing but killing lower level creatures to show off my overpowering gun. I was behaving more like the commanding image given off by my avatar. Realizing this, I decided to do something different. I returned to mining. I had forgotten that my purpose was to break out of my mining role. Hard as I tried to gain a sense of individuality, I subconsciously returned to conformity. Sigh.
Comment 1
Comment 2
Assignment 10: First Time in Second Life
Before taking this class, I had never even heard of Second Life. Finally having the motive to explore, I decided now was as good a time as any to see what all the hype was about.
I found that the avatar I created resembled and exaggerated many of my features in real life. My avatar was tall and blond, though I think I added a bit more to my height, just for fun. It took a bit of patience to get everything started, but once it began I had lots of help from others when I was able to socialize.
In the beginning I felt very confident. I had no hesitations talking to other people and even talking about myself, although I did not reveal that I was experimenting for a class. After a while, I began to wonder whether my height made a difference in the way I acted and presented myself online. I shrank my height to see if the Proteus Effect would have an impact on the way I talked in Second Life. Although the change was not significant, I noticed a bit more hesitation. In real life I am so used to being able to at least be eye level with most of my friends that looking up created a forfeiture of some of my confidence. My results did in fact represent the study of Yee & Bailenson
I found that the avatar I created resembled and exaggerated many of my features in real life. My avatar was tall and blond, though I think I added a bit more to my height, just for fun. It took a bit of patience to get everything started, but once it began I had lots of help from others when I was able to socialize.
In the beginning I felt very confident. I had no hesitations talking to other people and even talking about myself, although I did not reveal that I was experimenting for a class. After a while, I began to wonder whether my height made a difference in the way I acted and presented myself online. I shrank my height to see if the Proteus Effect would have an impact on the way I talked in Second Life. Although the change was not significant, I noticed a bit more hesitation. In real life I am so used to being able to at least be eye level with most of my friends that looking up created a forfeiture of some of my confidence. My results did in fact represent the study of Yee & Bailenson
10: WoW
For this assignment I chose to play the extremely popular MMORPG World of Warcraft(WoW). I used a 10 day free trial account for the game to try it out, since regularily I would have to purchase and buy a subscription to play. Due to the game's massive popularity, I was quite excited to give it a try.
The World of Warcraft gamespace takes place in the world of Azeroth, a large virtual environment with several continents and even further sectioned zones within each continent. Before entering the world I was able to choose from several races and classes as well as various appearance options for my avatar. These races and classes were further split into two sides, the Horde and the Alliance. Whichever side I chose decided the continent and zone I would start on, as well as which group I would become a part of. There are amazingly intense intergroup dynamics within a WoW server, especially on the PVP(player v. player) type of server. PvP means players from both sides are allowed to attack each other anywhere in Azeroth. This causes a very strongly salient group identity, and much intergroup conflict.
My avatar in WoW was a Tauren Shaman. He is not the most attractive of characters, indeed his physique resembles that of a walking bull. After asking some people a few questions about how to get started, I was on my way to exploring the Azeroth. I started out killing boars and trying to gain a few levels doing the starter quests. A little while later I was in a zone called The Crossroads, when the Alliance attacked. A large group of Alliance players “raided” the crossroads and killed off both players and NPCs(non-player characters).
Yee & Bailenson studied something they call The Proteus Effect. The Proteus Effect states that “an individual’s behavior conforms to their digital self-representation independent of how others perceive them.” My actions agree in some ways to their studies. First off, I was immediately enraged at the Alliance for attacking The Crossroads, and wanted nothing more than to ensure their demise. Based on my short time playing, my unattractive avatar did possibly not allow as much self-disclosure and interpersonal distance as a more attractive one might have. However, the Horde side has only 1 race, which was added in the expansion, that can be considered attractive. This said, I believe that on the Horde side, attractive avatars are of less importance to the amount of self-disclosure. I also witnessed a direct contradiction to the second study which stated that those with taller avatars behaved more confidently in a negotiation task than those with shorter avatars. I saw a gnome character on the Alliance side with a much more aggressive attitude than the tall humans and night elves around him. I couldn’t understand the Alliance’s stupid language, however he was screaming in CAPs throughout the entire raid on our Crossroads.
Assignment 10: Second Life
To be perfectly honest, I had a hard time figuring out Second Life. I had never used it before, or anything else where you could make your own avatar. I couldn’t figure out how to change my avatar besides the initial one we could choose, so I’m not sure how my interactions in Second Life would have been different had I been able to figure it out. Also, my computer was going ridiculously slow when I had Second Life open, so I was getting really frustrated when I tried to do something and it happened about an hour later. However, I thought the avatar I initially chose was pretty attractive, (the girl next door) but most of my interactions were not in line with what Yee and Bailenson (2007) found in their study.
Yee and Bailenson found that if you had a more attractive avatar, you were more likely to approach others and there was more self-disclosure between attractive avatars. First of all, I didn’t approach anyone because I trying to figure out what I was doing, but a couple of male avatars approached me. However, because I was getting really frustrated with my computer and with Second Life, I was not in the mood for very much self-disclosing, and wasn’t as friendly as Yee and Bailenson would have predicted, and the Proteus Effect and Behavioral Conformation did not affect how I acted.
Although in my case, I didn’t see any evidence of the Proteus Effect or Behavioral Confirmation, I realize this was largely due the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. My confusion and frustration overrode any desire I might have had to be friendly. I wouldn’t be surprised if people who had experience using Second Life or other online video games had results that were more along the lines of what Yee and Bailenson found.
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-my-second-life.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-i-like-my-first-life.html
Yee and Bailenson found that if you had a more attractive avatar, you were more likely to approach others and there was more self-disclosure between attractive avatars. First of all, I didn’t approach anyone because I trying to figure out what I was doing, but a couple of male avatars approached me. However, because I was getting really frustrated with my computer and with Second Life, I was not in the mood for very much self-disclosing, and wasn’t as friendly as Yee and Bailenson would have predicted, and the Proteus Effect and Behavioral Conformation did not affect how I acted.
Although in my case, I didn’t see any evidence of the Proteus Effect or Behavioral Confirmation, I realize this was largely due the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. My confusion and frustration overrode any desire I might have had to be friendly. I wouldn’t be surprised if people who had experience using Second Life or other online video games had results that were more along the lines of what Yee and Bailenson found.
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-my-second-life.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-i-like-my-first-life.html
10. Hit and Run
For this assignment, I decided to play World of Warcraft for a couple of hours (for my first time). When I logged in, I entered a world that I shared with thousands of other users. This vast land varied greatly from physical features to level of difficulty just to survive. While I played, I completed a couple of quests, bought some new items and abilities and discovered some new areas. I had let a friend know that I was going to play for the first time, so he logged in and we played together, completing quests and adventuring as a team. With each new ability attained, each new area discovered and each higher level achieved, I found myself wanting to just continue playing, even after I had been playing for a couple hours already. Even after my friend logged off, I continued to play and found a fellow warlock who helped me discover things about my abilities as a warlock.
I had trouble deciding on the degree at which the Proteus Effect described by Yee & Bailenson (2007) determined how I interacted among the other players with whom I shared my meta-world. The Proteus Effect is the idea that an individual’s behavior conforms to their digital self-representation independent of how others perceive them. The Proteus Effect seems to predict that one will behave in manner that is stereotypical of their avatar. I do not believe this to be so when I played World of Warcraft. As a new player, I had idea how any other player would expect me, a level 1 warlock, to act. I believe that the way I behaved as a warlock conformed to my abilities as a warlock. As a warlock, I had strong spells that could be shot from a distance and little defense to physical attack. For these two reasons, I avoided hand to hand combat and weakened opponents from afar. If they got too close and my health was down, I used a spell to force them to run in the opposite direction for a couple of seconds so that I could make my get away. As a warlock, I found that I played as a bit of a coward, someone who just hits and runs away. There was really no “honor” in playing as a warlock (but it was still really fun.) I did not act like a coward because I thought that the other player would think that I would act like a coward. I acted like a coward because I was new and it was my best chance at survival given my current set of abilities.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7102678997917330260&postID=2434181772379688532
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7102678997917330260&postID=6932509651783448157
#10: My Second Life
Just to start off with, I am pretty unfamiliar to the whole world of virtual spaces and video games. I have always heard friends here and there talking about WOW and such, but never myself participated in those types of games. Surprisingly, I had heard of Second Life before from my communications research adviser. She is actually teaching a graduate class about second life, on second life. It seemed pretty interesting when she was explaining it, so I thought doing this blog would be a great way to try Second Life out.
I am not great with video games in general, so I was a little intimidated at first to try out Second Life. I did not realize how much detail and options the game gave me with choosing my avatar. At first I was so conflicted and indecisive with how I wanted my avatar to look. I had so many options from gender, height, attractiveness, the list goes on. I thought I would try going to the opposite of what I am in real life. Since I am a 5ft. petite female, I thought it would be fun to try being a 6ft. alpha male type. Going along with that whole theme, I chose a name that I thought would fit the character, Brad. Playing in Second Life was an interesting experience where I felt myself acting very outgoing and approaching other avatars with self-confidence. I portrayed myself or "Brad" as the life of the party or typical jock varsity sports player type that is more aggressive and so on. Normally I am relatively shy around people and just say "hello" with a smile and that is pretty much it. In Second Life I felt a lot more confident because I was supposed to be this big manly guy named Brad.
This brings up concepts from the readings by Yee & Bailenson. I definitely think that I "conform[ed] to the behavior that [I] believe[d] others would expect [me] to have", which is as they define, the Proteus Effect. Without even making a conscious decision to act in the manner of the avatar "Brad" I did it because I thought that is what Brad would act like. Reflecting back on my thought process however, I felt that my impression of "Brad" was very stereotypical and that I felt the general opinion of other's about how Brad is supposed to act, is how I acted in Second Life.
Just to briefly address the other points Yee & Bailenson make, I did consider "Brad" to be attractive and did find myself in a closer proximity with other avatars. Yet for the idea of self-disclosure, I did not find a correlation with my avatar and disclosing more information. This however could be due to the fact that I have not been playing in Second Life for a long time and perhaps if I were to continue being "Brad" I might end up disclosing more information. Overall however I felt that my reaction to the game Second Life was very accurate and went according to Yee & Bailenson's findings.
Comments:
I am not great with video games in general, so I was a little intimidated at first to try out Second Life. I did not realize how much detail and options the game gave me with choosing my avatar. At first I was so conflicted and indecisive with how I wanted my avatar to look. I had so many options from gender, height, attractiveness, the list goes on. I thought I would try going to the opposite of what I am in real life. Since I am a 5ft. petite female, I thought it would be fun to try being a 6ft. alpha male type. Going along with that whole theme, I chose a name that I thought would fit the character, Brad. Playing in Second Life was an interesting experience where I felt myself acting very outgoing and approaching other avatars with self-confidence. I portrayed myself or "Brad" as the life of the party or typical jock varsity sports player type that is more aggressive and so on. Normally I am relatively shy around people and just say "hello" with a smile and that is pretty much it. In Second Life I felt a lot more confident because I was supposed to be this big manly guy named Brad.
This brings up concepts from the readings by Yee & Bailenson. I definitely think that I "conform[ed] to the behavior that [I] believe[d] others would expect [me] to have", which is as they define, the Proteus Effect. Without even making a conscious decision to act in the manner of the avatar "Brad" I did it because I thought that is what Brad would act like. Reflecting back on my thought process however, I felt that my impression of "Brad" was very stereotypical and that I felt the general opinion of other's about how Brad is supposed to act, is how I acted in Second Life.
Just to briefly address the other points Yee & Bailenson make, I did consider "Brad" to be attractive and did find myself in a closer proximity with other avatars. Yet for the idea of self-disclosure, I did not find a correlation with my avatar and disclosing more information. This however could be due to the fact that I have not been playing in Second Life for a long time and perhaps if I were to continue being "Brad" I might end up disclosing more information. Overall however I felt that my reaction to the game Second Life was very accurate and went according to Yee & Bailenson's findings.
Comments:
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-was-juice-worth-squeeze.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-i-like-my-first-life.html
Assignment 10: WoW
First of all, I would like to say that this assignment (if you really want to call it that) is great. I’ve had much experience playing online computer games throughout my childhood and high school years due to my older brother. I remember when I used to play Warcraft, then Starcraft, then came Counter-Strike and for this assignment, I decided to play World of Warcraft, which has changed a lot over the years from the original Warcraft I played as a teenager.
In World of Warcraft, a player can choose to be one of many races; I decided to be an Orc, whose race is considered to be one of the most prolific. As described by the World of Warcraft site, “the Orcs stand ready to fight not for the sake of conquest, but for their right to survive in their adopted world.” My goal is to fight for survival and in addition, to gain levels in order to become a stronger warrior. Also, players are allowed to team up to help each other get stronger faster and to benefit from other players’ special skills.
Although in the game I am a nonrealistic creature, I found that in some ways the game does parallel real life. Like I mentioned earlier, my purpose is to survive where I would have to continually make sure that my race is not being killed by opposing races. I If I get killed in battle, I lose money (gold in this case) and am forced to work for that gold back. This is similar to real life, although I am not getting killed, where I may come across situations where I may experience some kind of hardship and I might lose something (or things) along the way.
My character has green skin and has fang-like teeth. He carries a big axe in each hand and has a skill to fight up close. In addition, he has shoulder pads with spikes coming out of them. His character is pretty simple to use with his attacks quick and interesting to watch.
In the World of Warcraft, there are certain norms that are meant to be followed. In this game, there are variations of appearance due the different races. However, the class of a player’s character affects a player’s behavior more than their appearance. The character’s class determines their roles, race, and the gear they have on. In the game, players are expected to play the purpose of their roles. Yee & Bailenson’s study don’t really apply to the World of Warcraft since appearance is not a key factor in this game, but class is. Appearance did not affect my behavior as much but class, which includes a player’s race was significant and had a major influence on my behavior. Hence, the attraction factors that Yee and Bailenson discussed are not that important in this online game.
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-hit-and-run.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-second-life.html
Assignment 10: Avatars and Plasticity
Yee and Bailenson’s 2007 article, “The Proteus Effect: the Effect of Transformed Self-Representation on Behavior” analyzes the plasticity of self-representations in online game spaces. Examining self-representation in CMC environments, Yee and Bailenson claim that there is a wealth of evidence that supports the claim that avatars change the way individuals interact with one another. In support of this hypothesis, Yee and Bailenson claim that both behavior confirmation and self-perception theory offer valuable insight. Defining behavior confirmation as “the process whereby the expectations of one person (typically referred to as the perceiver) cause another person (typically referred to as the target) to behave in ways that confirm the perceiver’s expectation” Yee and Bailenson state that the perceiver’s behavior causes a change in the target’s behavior. Additionally, Yee and Bailenson note that, in accordance with the self-perception theory and deindividuation theory, it is possible for avatars to change how individuals behave, independent of how others perceive them. Daryl Bem’s Self-Perception Theory (1972) claims that individuals develop attitudes by observing their behavior and concluding what attitudes must have caused them. Similarly, Yee and Bailenson, in what they call the Proteus Effect, posit that individuals conform to the behavior that they believe others would expect them to have. Additionally, Yee and Bailenson outline the similarities and differences between the Proteus Effect and the SIDE model. Significantly, in distinction from the SIDE model, Yee and Bailenson claim that the Proteus Effect “operates” when the user is alone because the “self-perception theory is not predicated on the actual presence of other people but simply that a person evaluates him or herself from a third-person perspective.”
In assessing the validity of the Proteus Effect, specifically, examining whether the avatar of my choice affected the way I behaved in the game, I initially decided to play Second Life. After many failed attempts at running the Second Life application, however, I decided to experiment with Everquest. Unfortunately, I was also unable to download the application for Everquest. Despite my inability to play an online multi-player game, having read the literature regarding gender in online spaces, I feel that the choice of an avatar does play some role in the way one plays an online game. Though Yee and Bailenson claim that their Proteus Effect operates even when the user is alone, I feel that individuals will change in accordance with their avatar only in the presence of other individuals.
In assessing the validity of the Proteus Effect, specifically, examining whether the avatar of my choice affected the way I behaved in the game, I initially decided to play Second Life. After many failed attempts at running the Second Life application, however, I decided to experiment with Everquest. Unfortunately, I was also unable to download the application for Everquest. Despite my inability to play an online multi-player game, having read the literature regarding gender in online spaces, I feel that the choice of an avatar does play some role in the way one plays an online game. Though Yee and Bailenson claim that their Proteus Effect operates even when the user is alone, I feel that individuals will change in accordance with their avatar only in the presence of other individuals.
10: Diminished Fantasy
My first and only experience with MMORPGs was when I played Final Fantasy XI for several months towards the end of my junior year of high school. As I actually detailed in my first blog entry, I eventually stopped playing the game because it felt like I had to make the choice between a social life and a virtual life due to the amount of hours required to make decent progress. For this assignment I stepped back into the shoes of a small, magical, child-like “Tarutaru” (see the portrait above - adorable, no?) named Munk.Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of crafting a new avatar for research’s sake (it would have been interesting to be one of the members of the sexy, cat-woman race called the “Mithra”), as this costs extra money, so I allowed myself to get reacquainted with good ol’ Munk for my hour in the world of Vana’diel. The first thing I noticed about the gamespace was that it was starkly deserted. All the hustle and bustle from my game-playing days three years ago seems to have vanished. The environment consists of usually crowded cities and sparsely populated fields (for combat with monsters)—even in the cities it was hard to find players—and when I did find them, most were Japanese-speaking, as the majority of the users are in Japan. When I was involved, the population was 500,000 users but now it is roughly around 100,000; most must have moved on to World of Warcraft or Second Life—or just got fed up with MMOs like me.
When I did manage to track English-speaking players down to socialize, I found that they were extremely task-focused. I tried some humor and conversation about personal information with several players, but all seemed to either ignore me altogether if there was mission we were collaboratively working on or just bluntly type instructions or demands if were fighting monsters or looking for artifacts. I attribute this to external factors. Essentially, FFXI is inferior to WoW, so all players looking for a socially collaborative MMORPG are there, and Second Life is for non-gamers; thus I believe that the users of FFXI are fans of the Final Fantasy franchise—which is predominantly single player.
Relating to Yee & Bailenson (2007), I certainly was in a position to experience behavioral confirmation and the Proteus Effect, as I was, well, tiny (reaching as high up as the waists of other, more human-like avatars). I did feel, to some degree, that others were treating me differently because of my size: larger beings would shout commands and instructions at me, even when I clearly knew what I was doing. However, I believe this is largely due to the task-focused atmosphere; thus there is less emphasis on appearance and more emphasis on what appearance means (the Tarutaru are good at magic so people were commanding me to help them perform magic). Perhaps it was because I haven’t played in a while and felt removed, but I did not feel a diminished presence because of my small stature and intense cuteness. Maybe if the focus of the game was to socialize (like it is in Second Life), I would have experienced Yee & Bailenson’s suggested behavioral differences, but this was not the case.
Comment 1
Comment 2
Assignment 10: I like my first life better
I had absolutely no idea what Second Life was when starting this assignment. The concept of virtual worlds is completely foreign to me and honestly I find it to be a little ridiculous. I am not one for spending much unnecessary time on the computer despite its apparently endless opportunities. Interacting with real people appeals to me much more. That being said, I reluctantly began the extremely long process of downloading and installing Second Life on my computer and getting started.
I spent most of my time making my avatar, realizing just how extensive my options were. I altered just about every aspect that I could, playing around with ridiculous extremes, until I finally landed on a quite normal, attractive female. I assumed that the fact that I perceived my avatar to be attractive would affect how I acted in the game, but I was wrong. As it turns out I could not get used to this virtual world. It seemed crazy to me how much time and effort was invested by the users into something that isn’t even real.
10 - If Second Life Were Real Life, I'd End It All
Let it be stated I am not a fan of online video games. For whatever reason, the idea of playing a video game in front of a computer, no matter how cool an idea or game might be, has always seemed like a waste of time. I guess regular console games just seem more social to me, I don't know. Either way, for this assignment I decided to check out this Second Life world everyone speaks so highly of. Again, it seems like a really interesting and interactive idea, but an hour of this was quite painful.
I chose the boy next door avatar because I was in the mood to be wholesome. Also, I figured this would be a good way to test out the Proteus effect and see if I conformed to what I believe are the standards of the boy next door. Seeing as how I'd never played before, I needed to go through the orientation, and found it to be both informative and tedious. Once I got to the welcome area, that's where the interactions took off. In my first interactions I very politely asked some basic questions like how to change my appearance, etc, as well as try to find out some stuff about the other players. I don't know if it was because I was new to the game and felt it best to not step on any toes, or because I was conforming to my impression of the polite boy next door that I found myself being overly polite. I feel this was probably a result of the Proteus effect, and I felt the need to act like the polite boy next door.
I figured I would test out Yee's and Bailenson's ideas about people being friendlier to more attractive avatars. While I initially made myself a traditionally attractive boy next door, people were fairly nice and very helpful when I first jumped on. I thought they were just being nice and helpful to the new guy, and I also think this would only happen in a game like Second Life, which seems far less competitive than say World of Warcraft. In a more competitive atmosphere, I don't think the people would have been as hospitable. Anyway, after a few minutes of walking around polite and attractive, I decided to mix it up a bit and make myself unattractive. Seeing as how I was still a boy next door, I felt I should act as such and continue to be someone nice you can bring home to mom. Even though I was unattractive, the other characters continued to be nice and helpful and interactive. I conformed to the social cues of the boy next door, but others did not act more negatively towards me as my attraction level went down. I don't know if it was because an hour is not enough time to get the proper reaction, but either way their hospitality did not make the hour go by any easier. Let's just say I'm very grateful for my first life.
I chose the boy next door avatar because I was in the mood to be wholesome. Also, I figured this would be a good way to test out the Proteus effect and see if I conformed to what I believe are the standards of the boy next door. Seeing as how I'd never played before, I needed to go through the orientation, and found it to be both informative and tedious. Once I got to the welcome area, that's where the interactions took off. In my first interactions I very politely asked some basic questions like how to change my appearance, etc, as well as try to find out some stuff about the other players. I don't know if it was because I was new to the game and felt it best to not step on any toes, or because I was conforming to my impression of the polite boy next door that I found myself being overly polite. I feel this was probably a result of the Proteus effect, and I felt the need to act like the polite boy next door.
I figured I would test out Yee's and Bailenson's ideas about people being friendlier to more attractive avatars. While I initially made myself a traditionally attractive boy next door, people were fairly nice and very helpful when I first jumped on. I thought they were just being nice and helpful to the new guy, and I also think this would only happen in a game like Second Life, which seems far less competitive than say World of Warcraft. In a more competitive atmosphere, I don't think the people would have been as hospitable. Anyway, after a few minutes of walking around polite and attractive, I decided to mix it up a bit and make myself unattractive. Seeing as how I was still a boy next door, I felt I should act as such and continue to be someone nice you can bring home to mom. Even though I was unattractive, the other characters continued to be nice and helpful and interactive. I conformed to the social cues of the boy next door, but others did not act more negatively towards me as my attraction level went down. I don't know if it was because an hour is not enough time to get the proper reaction, but either way their hospitality did not make the hour go by any easier. Let's just say I'm very grateful for my first life.
10 - Plastic People in a Plastic World
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld said, “We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.” This I feel is the most attractive quality of computer-based multi-player games in a virtual space offer: a way to escape from yourself and be someone else. If you remember my first post on this blog, when I was a little girl, I used to tell strangers my name was Becky and I always dreamed of having long, brown straight hair. In second life, my childhood dreams finally came true. Second life describes itself as being all about personal expression and having the opportunity to create an avatar which is “the most personal expression of all because it “is your persona in the virtual world” (secondlife.com/whatis). It gives people the chance to finally have that perfect nose, that six pack, or maybe finally become 6 inches taller.
Unfortunately, this plasticity of self-representation works both ways. Yee and Bailenson (2007) reflect on a number of great points and observations in their article. For instance, their comments about how computer-mediated communication lacks social cues and presence making the social environment an impoverished one. They also point out how relationships develop slower online and that people take part in behavioral confirmation and react to the expectations other people have for them. However, it was their conclusions regarding how our avatars affect our behavior and makes up for these poor environments that are particularly interesting. Their findings supported the Proteus effect, which said that our self-representations shape our behaviors. For instance, the more attractive the avatar, the more likely they were to approach people of the opposite gender, just like the taller the person, the more dominant the person acted.
Yet, what I found from my experience was that even though these avatars reveal an identity cue in this environment that has never existed before, its effect on behavioral confirmation and the rate of relationship formation is biased on the physical appearance of the avatar. This is obvious just by looking at the fact that you can change everything about your avatar at any time, even what kind of underwear it’s wearing. Why would they go to so much trouble allowing you to change every little thing about something that was not so important? Also, I found that relationships did not necessarily form faster in general, they just moved faster in particular directions than they would have. For instance, the prettier girl was more likely to be more physically revealing and act more sexually just like the guy going up to the pretty girl is going to act more charming and charismatic.
Overall, what we don’t realize is that you can’t separate it. You don’t want to become your avatar without keeping who you are, and the fact of the matter is that you can’t have it both ways. These virtual lives aren’t about substance, they are worlds on a plastic screen, and therefore, are only plastic at best.
Unfortunately, this plasticity of self-representation works both ways. Yee and Bailenson (2007) reflect on a number of great points and observations in their article. For instance, their comments about how computer-mediated communication lacks social cues and presence making the social environment an impoverished one. They also point out how relationships develop slower online and that people take part in behavioral confirmation and react to the expectations other people have for them. However, it was their conclusions regarding how our avatars affect our behavior and makes up for these poor environments that are particularly interesting. Their findings supported the Proteus effect, which said that our self-representations shape our behaviors. For instance, the more attractive the avatar, the more likely they were to approach people of the opposite gender, just like the taller the person, the more dominant the person acted.
Yet, what I found from my experience was that even though these avatars reveal an identity cue in this environment that has never existed before, its effect on behavioral confirmation and the rate of relationship formation is biased on the physical appearance of the avatar. This is obvious just by looking at the fact that you can change everything about your avatar at any time, even what kind of underwear it’s wearing. Why would they go to so much trouble allowing you to change every little thing about something that was not so important? Also, I found that relationships did not necessarily form faster in general, they just moved faster in particular directions than they would have. For instance, the prettier girl was more likely to be more physically revealing and act more sexually just like the guy going up to the pretty girl is going to act more charming and charismatic.
Overall, what we don’t realize is that you can’t separate it. You don’t want to become your avatar without keeping who you are, and the fact of the matter is that you can’t have it both ways. These virtual lives aren’t about substance, they are worlds on a plastic screen, and therefore, are only plastic at best.
Monday, November 12, 2007
10. The Online Gaming World
For the first time in my life, I played a computer-based multi-player videogame. The game I played was Second Life. Yee and Bailenson describe Second Life as a social world “using over 150 unique sliders, they can change everything from their foot size to their eye color to the cut of their shirt” (p. 272). When my character was first created, it appeared as a skinny girl with brown hair. After asking numerous other avatars how to change my appearance, one lady gave me specific directions as to how to change my features. I also learned how to fly and gain inventory. The Second Life online space was very difficult to navigate through, especially for a first-timer. If it was not for this assignment, I do not think I would have ever entered into a computer-based multi-player videogame. Now that I have entered a computer-based multi-player videogame, like Second Life, I might re-enter (if I am every really bored).
In Yee’s and Bailenson’s article they discuss the implications of the Proteus Effect with regards to social interactions in online environments. The Proteus Effect is when one conforms to the behavior that they believe others would expect them to have. The Proteus Effect emphasizes conformity to individual identity cues, such as becoming friendlier in an attractive avatar. Yee and Bailenson believe that our avatars change how we interact with others. They state, “In an online environment, a perceiver interacting with a target who is using an attractive avatar may cause the target to behave in a more friendly and charming manner” (p. 272). When I was an avatar in Second Life, the attractiveness of my avatar did not change how I interacted with others. My features went from unattractive and fat to attractive and skinny, but my interactions with others remained constant. However, I was more likely to start talking to a more attractive avatar rather than a less attractive one. In my head, I thought more attractive avatars were nicer.
In Yee’s and Bailenson’s article they discuss the implications of the Proteus Effect with regards to social interactions in online environments. The Proteus Effect is when one conforms to the behavior that they believe others would expect them to have. The Proteus Effect emphasizes conformity to individual identity cues, such as becoming friendlier in an attractive avatar. Yee and Bailenson believe that our avatars change how we interact with others. They state, “In an online environment, a perceiver interacting with a target who is using an attractive avatar may cause the target to behave in a more friendly and charming manner” (p. 272). When I was an avatar in Second Life, the attractiveness of my avatar did not change how I interacted with others. My features went from unattractive and fat to attractive and skinny, but my interactions with others remained constant. However, I was more likely to start talking to a more attractive avatar rather than a less attractive one. In my head, I thought more attractive avatars were nicer.
10: Looking into my Second Life
The computer based videogame that I decided to play was Second Life. Researching a lot about this MUD through last week’s assignment on PIU, I was really excited to do this activity. My excitement did not stay for long as I realized that I was actually bored of being on Second Life. However, to have good results for this assignment, I decided to interact with others on Second Life first and then read the Yee & Bailenson (2007) study. After reading the study, I noticed that only some of my experiences on Second Life matched this paper.
As soon as I registered and got on Second Life, I had to select an avatar and get a name. I choose to be “the boy next door” and named myself Sabbar Sang. Yee states in their paper that, “users in online environment may conform to expectations and stereotypes of the idedntity of their avatars.” Following this Proteus Effect and being the Boy next door I should have been a little shy, but due to this assignment I started chatting with everyone out there. Therefore, I did not observe myself acting like the boy next door but I did meet other people who were trying to act like their avatars. I met various people just starting their time on Second Life and many of these people had already started acting like their avatar. One of these avatars was a “party boy” and he kept making comments that he thought were cool such as, “yo, wanna hang out” etc. I could notice that he was acting and trying to be cool by acting like his “party boy” avatar and keeping up the personality of his character. Therefore, the Proteus effect and behavioral conformations were definitely seen on Second Life.
In addition to checking for these two factors I also assessed how well some of the conclusions of Yee and Balienson worked out on my experience with Second Life. One of these conclusions was that, “the attractiveness of the avatars impacted how intimate participants were willing to be with a stranger.” I experienced a little bit of this when I noticed myself approaching more to avatars. This behavior goes hand in hand with Yee’s first experiment where they found that, “participants in the attractive condition walked significantly closer to confederate than participants in the unattractive condition”. I felt that I had an attractive avatar and due to my real identity being anonymous, I was more confident to approach someone. Moreover, I observed myself having longer conversations with avatars that were girls and were better looking. Another conclusion of Yee stated that, “the heights of the avatars impacted how confident participants became.” I did not notice this behavior to be present because even while talking to other avatars that looked bigger than me, I did not feel like they were overpowering or more dominant.
10.Avatars and personalities
New Note 8
For this assignment, I borrowed my friend's computer to play World of Warcraft for a few hours. The experiment went horribly wrong when I realized that I had no idea what to do at all, yet I hung in there and managed to figure a few things out.
I had a great time when I created my character. I chose to be a gnome mage because it sounded like the most benevolent. Most of the others sounded either annoying, stupid or malevolent and I didn't feel much like being malicious. I also chose the Expansive Mind trait because it stated that it increased intelligence and I liked the symbolic value of the idea.
At this point, I had to stop and consider that my case in regard to the Yee & Bailenson article, that it wasn't my choice of avatar that influenced how I played. It was more that I chose my avatar because of the way that I was going to play the game. I realize looking back that I was in a really strongly emotional state at the time and that I couldn't really break out of it by will of choice.
So I opted to instead create a different character with different traits. This time, I created an orc warrior with blood fury in order to contrast with my first one. While creating it, I decided to myself that it was considerably different when compared to the gnome mage that I had before.
And oddly, I started playing the game somewhat differently. I used my character for more aggressive ends than when I used my first. Was it because of this new avatar that I chose? I suppose it was, because there was no purpose to the game in my opinion in using the character for the way that I would have preferred to use it.
Nevertheless, I had no interest in it. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about playing with the gnome mage that I created, but I absolutely hated playing with the orc warrior because of the image that it created. I abruptly dropped the task for a few hours and then came back and resumed with my first character. The experience was just as unfulfilling, but at least it didn't repulse me in the way that the orc warrior did.
So where does this leave Yee and Bailenson? Well, I figure that yes, the avatar did change the way that I played, but more importantly, it changed the way I felt about the game. This is what changed the way I played, but the effect was so strong on me that I had to stop and go back to using the gnome mage. I found that when using the mage, I could play a game that was more simple and humble whereas using the orc was exceedingly lavish, aggressive and destructive.
So my final conclusion is that the avatar did change my gameplay because it changed who I played as. Ultimately, it seems that the images that we create of ourselves (whether symbolically or materially) can have an extremely profound effect on the way we view ourselves.
For this assignment, I borrowed my friend's computer to play World of Warcraft for a few hours. The experiment went horribly wrong when I realized that I had no idea what to do at all, yet I hung in there and managed to figure a few things out.
I had a great time when I created my character. I chose to be a gnome mage because it sounded like the most benevolent. Most of the others sounded either annoying, stupid or malevolent and I didn't feel much like being malicious. I also chose the Expansive Mind trait because it stated that it increased intelligence and I liked the symbolic value of the idea.
At this point, I had to stop and consider that my case in regard to the Yee & Bailenson article, that it wasn't my choice of avatar that influenced how I played. It was more that I chose my avatar because of the way that I was going to play the game. I realize looking back that I was in a really strongly emotional state at the time and that I couldn't really break out of it by will of choice.
So I opted to instead create a different character with different traits. This time, I created an orc warrior with blood fury in order to contrast with my first one. While creating it, I decided to myself that it was considerably different when compared to the gnome mage that I had before.
And oddly, I started playing the game somewhat differently. I used my character for more aggressive ends than when I used my first. Was it because of this new avatar that I chose? I suppose it was, because there was no purpose to the game in my opinion in using the character for the way that I would have preferred to use it.
Nevertheless, I had no interest in it. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about playing with the gnome mage that I created, but I absolutely hated playing with the orc warrior because of the image that it created. I abruptly dropped the task for a few hours and then came back and resumed with my first character. The experience was just as unfulfilling, but at least it didn't repulse me in the way that the orc warrior did.
So where does this leave Yee and Bailenson? Well, I figure that yes, the avatar did change the way that I played, but more importantly, it changed the way I felt about the game. This is what changed the way I played, but the effect was so strong on me that I had to stop and go back to using the gnome mage. I found that when using the mage, I could play a game that was more simple and humble whereas using the orc was exceedingly lavish, aggressive and destructive.
So my final conclusion is that the avatar did change my gameplay because it changed who I played as. Ultimately, it seems that the images that we create of ourselves (whether symbolically or materially) can have an extremely profound effect on the way we view ourselves.
10 Hancock As Enabler
This Sunday, I did something that I swore two years ago to never do ever again. For one hour, I stepped into the World of Warcraft (WoW) for the assignment. If this does not demonstrate my willingness to sacrifice for Comm 245, I do not know what will.
My last interaction with this six-million-player phenomenon ended in April, 2005, my senior year in high school. After wasting about five months of my life, I swore off the game altogether upon the realization that I was paying money to accomplish…nothing. So for me to re-enter this domain was quite the experience.
This Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) takes place in a multi-continent world with 8 races and an equal variety of specialty “classes” that one can customize to create a character more inclined to physical combat or to magic use. A player creates a unique character and explores the massive world, meeting people, completing “quests”, collecting items, and learning their character and its abilities. All this is done in the name of getting your character to the highest level possible and completing more difficult quests, perhaps for no other reason than because everyone else seems to be doing it.
My experience with the one hour I limited myself to for self-respect’s sake was pretty much the same as I remembered from my game time back in 2005. My time was spent running around the virtual world completing trivial tasks and occasionally interacting with fellow newly-created characters. After reading over the Yee & Bailensen (2007) article, I found that my avatar, a small male gnome, did not have any effects on my personality relative to FtF interactions. I believe this lack of difference in my general affect can be attributed to my previous experience with online virtual environments, and specifically with WoW. I furthermore think that my apprehension about engaging in an activity that had previously wasted a chunk of my life resulted in my detaching myself from the experience more than others might have, whether conscious or not. It could just be that I don’t buy into the whole behavioral confirmation phenomenon. In the end, I survived my brief jaunt into a world I’d hoped to have left far behind, and while I don’t plan to go back any time soon, I now have a new way to view any interactions I might have within that space.
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-adjust-shirt-wrinkles.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-if-second-life-were-real-life-id-end.html
My last interaction with this six-million-player phenomenon ended in April, 2005, my senior year in high school. After wasting about five months of my life, I swore off the game altogether upon the realization that I was paying money to accomplish…nothing. So for me to re-enter this domain was quite the experience.
This Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) takes place in a multi-continent world with 8 races and an equal variety of specialty “classes” that one can customize to create a character more inclined to physical combat or to magic use. A player creates a unique character and explores the massive world, meeting people, completing “quests”, collecting items, and learning their character and its abilities. All this is done in the name of getting your character to the highest level possible and completing more difficult quests, perhaps for no other reason than because everyone else seems to be doing it.
My experience with the one hour I limited myself to for self-respect’s sake was pretty much the same as I remembered from my game time back in 2005. My time was spent running around the virtual world completing trivial tasks and occasionally interacting with fellow newly-created characters. After reading over the Yee & Bailensen (2007) article, I found that my avatar, a small male gnome, did not have any effects on my personality relative to FtF interactions. I believe this lack of difference in my general affect can be attributed to my previous experience with online virtual environments, and specifically with WoW. I furthermore think that my apprehension about engaging in an activity that had previously wasted a chunk of my life resulted in my detaching myself from the experience more than others might have, whether conscious or not. It could just be that I don’t buy into the whole behavioral confirmation phenomenon. In the end, I survived my brief jaunt into a world I’d hoped to have left far behind, and while I don’t plan to go back any time soon, I now have a new way to view any interactions I might have within that space.
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-adjust-shirt-wrinkles.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-if-second-life-were-real-life-id-end.html
10: Beauty Lies in the Eye of the Beholder
I have never played online videogames before so this was an interesting experience for me. I decided to try Second Life to see what was so addictive about it. The game requires quite a bit of vested interest because you have to go through orientation and get used to how things operate, but other players were very friendly and willing to help. Once you finish orientation, you are teleported to the “welcome area,” which is where you meet/socialize with other players. I found this to be the most interactive part of the game because there was so much conversing and even in different languages (French, Spanish, etc.). There was a lot of diversity in the players and I met people from all over the world (Chile , Czech Republic , Lebanon
The most interesting part of the game for me was changing my avatar’s appearance. I noticed that the majority of the players chose attractive avatars. Although users are permitted to make their avatars misshapen/not human, very seldom did I come across an odd looking/unattractive character. To better understand the issues in Yee & Bailenson’s article, I first made an attractive character and then made it ugly to see if I would experience the Proteus Effect, in which my behavior conforms to my digital self-representation independent of how others perceive me. In particular, when I was the attractive character, I found that it was much easier to talk to people. This may have been caused by the anonymity and my wanting to explore the game more so I was more extraverted or it may have been an increase in self-confidence and players responding more to attractive characters. I compared my experience using behavioral confirmation, where one behaves in ways that confirm the perceiver’s expectations, and the self-perception theory, where I observe my own behavior to understand what caused them. As the attractive avatar, my experience confirmed the first hypothesis because I exhibited higher self-disclosure and more information about myself than in the unattractive state because fewer people confronted me as the unattractive avatar. I did not, however, experience the first hypothesis of walking closer to people in the attractive condition. Being the unattractive avatar was viewed by others mostly as a joke, and I did not feel that I was perceived as unattractive. Independent of how others perceived me, I did not feel that my behavior was altered (i.e. – I was still as extraverted as I was before). Thus, my experience did not entirely verify the results declared in Yee & Bailenson.
comment1
comment2
The most interesting part of the game for me was changing my avatar’s appearance. I noticed that the majority of the players chose attractive avatars. Although users are permitted to make their avatars misshapen/not human, very seldom did I come across an odd looking/unattractive character. To better understand the issues in Yee & Bailenson’s article, I first made an attractive character and then made it ugly to see if I would experience the Proteus Effect, in which my behavior conforms to my digital self-representation independent of how others perceive me. In particular, when I was the attractive character, I found that it was much easier to talk to people. This may have been caused by the anonymity and my wanting to explore the game more so I was more extraverted or it may have been an increase in self-confidence and players responding more to attractive characters. I compared my experience using behavioral confirmation, where one behaves in ways that confirm the perceiver’s expectations, and the self-perception theory, where I observe my own behavior to understand what caused them. As the attractive avatar, my experience confirmed the first hypothesis because I exhibited higher self-disclosure and more information about myself than in the unattractive state because fewer people confronted me as the unattractive avatar. I did not, however, experience the first hypothesis of walking closer to people in the attractive condition. Being the unattractive avatar was viewed by others mostly as a joke, and I did not feel that I was perceived as unattractive. Independent of how others perceived me, I did not feel that my behavior was altered (i.e. – I was still as extraverted as I was before). Thus, my experience did not entirely verify the results declared in Yee & Bailenson.
comment1
comment2
10: Was the Juice Worth the Squeeze?
I chose to use Second Life. The girl next door was an easy choice. First of all, she was definitely the best looking. Second of all, The Girl Next Door is one of my favorite movies, and my avatar resembled Elisha Cuthbert. Getting used to this virtual reality was no easy task. I had trouble with the tutorials that taught you how to speak, move, interact, and change your appearance. I was excited to really get into this assignment, and use my self-presentational skills in order to act like my avatar. However, that never really happened for two reasons.
Firstly, I was really taken aback by the extensiveness of the rules of the virtual reality that is second life. It was clear to me that there was more to the Leviathan in this environment than just a mere raised eyebrow. Things that college kids may consider humorous could easily get you kicked off second life, and that deterred me from acting as outlandish as I was planning. Second, because I had never played an online video game with other people, I was shocked and amazed at how close the interactions were to real life. Now, of course there are some major differences (for one I can not see the person I am interacting with which creates anonymity, and for another, I never have to interact with these people again), but overall I felt myself struggling with the same social dilemmas I do on a day-to-day basis. I felt awkward initiating conversations, I was shy, unsure, and overanalyzed each syllable I wrote in the chat box before shouting it to the second life environment. These qualities stem from my own personality, not that of my avatar (Elisha Cuthbert). What began as a journey to free myself from self imposed social constraints became a typical interaction while wearing a pretty mask. While the social norms are not the same on second life as they are in the real world, they are similar, and as such, anonymity can only go so far in terms of encouraging someone to act more aggressively and confidently. This experience is a clear departure from the article by Yee and Bailenson, and does not support their 'Proteus Effect’
The Proteus Effect asserts that individuals act how they believe others would expect them to. Thus, my gorgeous girl next door should not have been unsure, awkward, and out of place as I acted during my experience. I am sure that If I had spent more time in second life, and become more well versed in the environment, that such confidence would carry over to my behavior and I would begin acting more like my avatar. However, in just an hour it is difficult for one to shed their own insecurities and present a more dominant strong willed version of ourselves. Throughout my experience on second life, I felt like the identity that would be associated with my avatar was a facade that I could not substantiate through conversations with others. Despite picking an avatar that looked nothing like myself, my girl next door was unable to conjure the dominant, provocative, and risk taking persona that Elisha displayed in the movie The Girl Next Door.
Firstly, I was really taken aback by the extensiveness of the rules of the virtual reality that is second life. It was clear to me that there was more to the Leviathan in this environment than just a mere raised eyebrow. Things that college kids may consider humorous could easily get you kicked off second life, and that deterred me from acting as outlandish as I was planning. Second, because I had never played an online video game with other people, I was shocked and amazed at how close the interactions were to real life. Now, of course there are some major differences (for one I can not see the person I am interacting with which creates anonymity, and for another, I never have to interact with these people again), but overall I felt myself struggling with the same social dilemmas I do on a day-to-day basis. I felt awkward initiating conversations, I was shy, unsure, and overanalyzed each syllable I wrote in the chat box before shouting it to the second life environment. These qualities stem from my own personality, not that of my avatar (Elisha Cuthbert). What began as a journey to free myself from self imposed social constraints became a typical interaction while wearing a pretty mask. While the social norms are not the same on second life as they are in the real world, they are similar, and as such, anonymity can only go so far in terms of encouraging someone to act more aggressively and confidently. This experience is a clear departure from the article by Yee and Bailenson, and does not support their 'Proteus Effect’
The Proteus Effect asserts that individuals act how they believe others would expect them to. Thus, my gorgeous girl next door should not have been unsure, awkward, and out of place as I acted during my experience. I am sure that If I had spent more time in second life, and become more well versed in the environment, that such confidence would carry over to my behavior and I would begin acting more like my avatar. However, in just an hour it is difficult for one to shed their own insecurities and present a more dominant strong willed version of ourselves. Throughout my experience on second life, I felt like the identity that would be associated with my avatar was a facade that I could not substantiate through conversations with others. Despite picking an avatar that looked nothing like myself, my girl next door was unable to conjure the dominant, provocative, and risk taking persona that Elisha displayed in the movie The Girl Next Door.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
10: Adjust Shirt Wrinkles
As I have not played any online games ever (including simple ones like solitaire), I was astounded with IBM’s Second Life program. The complexity of each step of the set-up was impressive. As I was going through each set-up step, I found it very interesting to how real Second Life actually is to the “real world,” or non-CMC environments. There were “Community Standards” that I had to read and agree to before proceeding in the process. “The goals of the Community Standards are simple: treat each other with respect and without harassment, adhere to local standards as indicated by simulator ratings, and refrain from any hate activity which slurs a real-world individual or real-world community.” Then there is an in-depth description about the “Big Six:” intolerance, harassment, assault, disclosure, indecency, and disturbing the peace. After reading through these, they sounded a lot like the unwritten rules of moral conduct in the
I decided to pick the avatar named “girl night club.” To go along with her seductive look, I chose—what I thought to be—an equally seductive name. I then spent the majority of my time in Second Life altering her appearance. My amazement and even addiction to the program continued when I saw that I could alter anything from her body shape to the amount of wrinkles on her shirt. When I was not altering the appearance by changing her skin tone, clothing colors, eye color, etc., I was trying my best to navigate the program. I found it very hard to pick up at first despite the helping box in the upper left corner of the screen. There were many times when I had to go back to the same spot to re-read helpful hints on how to use the program and to figure out what features were available to me. I only chatted with a few men (who were the majority of avatars I came across) after first being typed to.
After I participated in the program and read the article by Yee and Bailenson, I realized that my experience cannot support their research. I did find myself choosing a sexy avatar and altering her name and appearance to best “fit the part.” However, my motives behind my choice and the alterations were not based on how attractive I wanted my avatar to appear but how amazed I was by the program’s capabilities. As I spent very little time actually interacting with other users, my avatar did not affect my behavior in significant or instantaneous ways. Being a very inexperienced gamer in such an advanced program, my choice of an avatar was not based on using self-representation in a virtual environment which caused no change in my behavior.
10: Avatar Attractiveness
Plastic surgery aside, in real-life individuals can alter their appearance through a new hair style, makeup choices, clothing selection, and a variety of other superficial means. However, in the virtual space Second Life, individuals can easily alter the appearance of their avatar (their digital representation) in more ways than I ever expected possible. Yee and Bailenson’s (2007) study analyzes how self-representation can impact an individual’s behavior in these spaces.When I first signed up for Second Life, I chose to be represented by one of the standard avatars, referred to as “Girl Next Door.” Shortly after being dropped off on Orientation Island, another newbie approached me and we began chatting. His avatar was very good looking, and I became self-conscious since this standard avatar wasn’t necessarily how I wanted to present myself. Since we were both fairly unsure of how to maneuver our way through this virtual world, we helped each other out as we learned our basic skills—how to communicate, how to search, how to move, and most importantly how to alter your appearance.
After completing my orientation, I opted to be transported to Help Island, where I spent a great deal of time altering my avatar’s appearance. Who knew that eye spacing, earlobe attachment, nostril division, lip ratio, jaw shape, and neck thickness were aspects that would be considered in forming our digital self-representations? After creating an avatar that I believed was very attractive, I enhanced the look I was going for by altering her clothing to make her appear more confident with her body. I achieved this by changing her jeans into super-short jean shorts, changing the long-sleeve shirt into a tank top, and revealing some cleavage.
According to Yee and Bailenson (2007), the Proteus Effect states that “in line with self-perception theory, [individuals] conform to the behavior that they believe others would expect them to have” (p. 274). This means that individuals evaluate themselves from a third-person perspective and behave consistently with how they are represented. After altering my avatar’s appearance, I had the feeling that others would expect me to be outgoing and confident simply based on my avatar’s attractiveness and her clothing.
I signed onto Second Life again later in the day with my new appearance perfected. My first Second Life friend that I met on Orientation Island initiated a chat conversation with me although we were on different islands. Following through with his request to meet up, I transported him to the island I was currently exploring. Once he saw my avatar’s new look, he suddenly acted more intimate than he did during our initial meeting—greeting me with “Hey Hottie.”
In Yee and Bailenson’s (2007) study, they found that the attractiveness of an individual’s avatar impacts how intimate they are willing to be with a stranger. In particular, the results showed that participants who had attractive avatars exhibited increased self-disclosure and were more likely to stand closer to others. My Second Life interaction supports Yee and Bailenson’s (2007) observations. Prior to my appearance alteration, the male avatar and my avatar were standing a reasonable distance away from each other and we chatted strictly about how to use Second Life. However, after I altered my avatar's appearance and we met up again, we stood fairly close to each other and I felt comfortable sharing a great deal of personal information about myself with this stranger. Since I felt that others would interpret my avatar as being attractive and confident, I acted consistently with these beliefs.
In addition to how I perceived my avatar, the way the male I was interacting with viewed my avatar led the relationship to become more intimate. Yee and Bailenson’s (2007) study intentionally excluded the effect of behavioral confirmation (the idea that individuals behave in ways that confirm the other’s expectations) in order to focus on the effect of changing an individual’s self-representation. In their experiment the confederate was blind to the attractiveness of the participant’s avatar, therefore removing the effects of behavioral confirmation. However, while interacting in Second Life, the male I was interacting with clearly expressed that he found my avatar attractive and therefore behavioral confirmation probably contributed to how I acted in addition to my own perception of my avatar’s attractiveness. Ultimately, although our self-representations can affect how we behave in Second Life or any other virtual environment, I believe it is unrealistic to ignore behavioral confirmation since this plays a huge role in interaction.
Comment 1
Comment 2
Assignment 10: Get A (second) Life
The Second Life game space was a little hard to get used to. I think there is a big learning curve. While there is so much to do, and so many options, because of the limitlessness of the playing style, it’s hard to grow familiar with the game. There were so many options for what I could do, where I could go, what I could look like, etc. that I didn’t know where to start and thus I was bored. I completed the orientation tutorials to learn the game. Other than that, I talked to a few people and I walked (sometimes flew) around. It got old fast. Additionally, my movement was very slow and choppy. Whether this was my computer, the program, or a mix, I don’t know. But it diminished my enjoyment of Second Life.
The appearance of my avatar did not have much influence on how I behaved. My findings differ from those discussed in the Yee and Bailenson reading for two reasons. First of all, it was hard to judge where my avatar fell in terms of attractiveness, height, or other factors, relative to other avatars in the virtual space. Not only did I not see my avatars face much, due to the default view of the game, but even when I was able to see my avatar I couldn’t know how other users perceived my avatar. Thus, the attractiveness of my avatar did not affect me.
Likewise, I did not come across enough other users to get a sense of how tall or short my avatar was. I was not in a real, physical space, and so I couldn’t tell how tall I was compared to the environment. Therefore, it was difficult to judge if I was tall or short.
The second major reason that my observations deviated from Yee and Bailenson’s is that I was not using Second Life for recreation or as the participant in an experiment. I was testing it out for this assignment. Thus, I quickly accepted whatever avatar I was given, made a few quick changes to see how that feature worked, and that was it. I didn’t really identify with my avatar. People who spend time with Second Life or other virtual games usually feel more in touch with their avatar and take it more seriously. I felt detached from my avatar. I regarded my avatar as an analysis tool for the assignment, not an extension or virtual form of myself. This, I think, is the main reason why my experience did no yield the same results as Yee and Bailenson.
While Yee and Bailenson found that height and attractiveness of avatars influenced how people behaved, I did not. This was because I couldn’t tell how attractive or tall my avatar was, and because I did not feel attached to my avatar.
Comments:
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-i-like-my-first-life.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-wow.html
The appearance of my avatar did not have much influence on how I behaved. My findings differ from those discussed in the Yee and Bailenson reading for two reasons. First of all, it was hard to judge where my avatar fell in terms of attractiveness, height, or other factors, relative to other avatars in the virtual space. Not only did I not see my avatars face much, due to the default view of the game, but even when I was able to see my avatar I couldn’t know how other users perceived my avatar. Thus, the attractiveness of my avatar did not affect me.
Likewise, I did not come across enough other users to get a sense of how tall or short my avatar was. I was not in a real, physical space, and so I couldn’t tell how tall I was compared to the environment. Therefore, it was difficult to judge if I was tall or short.
The second major reason that my observations deviated from Yee and Bailenson’s is that I was not using Second Life for recreation or as the participant in an experiment. I was testing it out for this assignment. Thus, I quickly accepted whatever avatar I was given, made a few quick changes to see how that feature worked, and that was it. I didn’t really identify with my avatar. People who spend time with Second Life or other virtual games usually feel more in touch with their avatar and take it more seriously. I felt detached from my avatar. I regarded my avatar as an analysis tool for the assignment, not an extension or virtual form of myself. This, I think, is the main reason why my experience did no yield the same results as Yee and Bailenson.
While Yee and Bailenson found that height and attractiveness of avatars influenced how people behaved, I did not. This was because I couldn’t tell how attractive or tall my avatar was, and because I did not feel attached to my avatar.
Comments:
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-i-like-my-first-life.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-wow.html
Assignment #10: Second Life and the Proteus Effect
I’ve never participated in any computer-based multi-player videogames, so my experience in Second Life was definitely an interesting one. I selected one of the basic female avatars with the “Nightclub” label. After naming her “Monica,” I did not make any other alterations or upgrades to improve her appearance. Before I downloaded Second Life, I had intended on making many adjustments in my avatar’s appearance in order to make her as attractive as possible. However, once I was given the initial basic selections I realized that I only had the option of choosing tall, skinny, pretty female avatars. They each may not have conformed to my personal ideas of beauty, but they were all uniquely attractive. It was clear to me that Second Life gave me really no choice but to choose a “youthful, in shape, and attractive” avatar, as Yee and Bailenson (2007, pg. 287) point out in their article on the Proteus Effect.
According to Yee and Bailenson (2007), the Proteus Effect is the process in which an individual’s behavior conforms to their digital self-representation independent of how others perceive them. In their study, Yee and Bailenson discovered that participants in a virtual reality environment walked closer to confederates if they believed themselves to be attractive avatars. Participants also exhibited more self-disclosure and intimacy if they believed their avatars were attractive. Lastly, participants who believed they were taller avatars behaved more confidently in a negotiation task. These changes in behavior due to the Proteus Effect occurred even without the effects of behavioral confirmation because the confederates with whom the participants spoke were always blind to the attractiveness and height experimental conditions.
When I was in the online social world of Second Life, I tried to determine whether my selection of attractive “Nightclub Monica” had any affect on my behavior in the videogame space as Yee and Bailenson found. As a tall, young, attractive female avatar, I guess I could say that I walked closer to other avatars in the Second Life environment. There were only a few avatars that I actually spoke to, but with those few I did end up sharing a lot of information about myself. Most of that information was made up, but nevertheless I was showing increased self-disclosure. I also exhibited increased confidence in the way that I just began conversations with the other avatars with much more self-assurance than I would have in a face to face interaction.
While I know that I showed changes in my behavior that were consistent with Yee and Bailenson’s findings, I think that I really only made such drastic confidence changes because I had read their article and was aware of their findings prior to my experience in Second Life. When I interacted with other avatars, I constantly had the thought in the back of my mind that “I was a tall, young, pretty avatar and that I should not be afraid to approach other avatars.” As I look back and analyze what influenced my avatar’s behavior, I do accept the fact that my attractiveness may have indeed influenced my behavior more than I think it did. However, I think that a third party perspective watching the interaction is really necessary to properly determine the Proteus Effect.
Comments:
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-second-life.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-hit-and-run.html
According to Yee and Bailenson (2007), the Proteus Effect is the process in which an individual’s behavior conforms to their digital self-representation independent of how others perceive them. In their study, Yee and Bailenson discovered that participants in a virtual reality environment walked closer to confederates if they believed themselves to be attractive avatars. Participants also exhibited more self-disclosure and intimacy if they believed their avatars were attractive. Lastly, participants who believed they were taller avatars behaved more confidently in a negotiation task. These changes in behavior due to the Proteus Effect occurred even without the effects of behavioral confirmation because the confederates with whom the participants spoke were always blind to the attractiveness and height experimental conditions.
When I was in the online social world of Second Life, I tried to determine whether my selection of attractive “Nightclub Monica” had any affect on my behavior in the videogame space as Yee and Bailenson found. As a tall, young, attractive female avatar, I guess I could say that I walked closer to other avatars in the Second Life environment. There were only a few avatars that I actually spoke to, but with those few I did end up sharing a lot of information about myself. Most of that information was made up, but nevertheless I was showing increased self-disclosure. I also exhibited increased confidence in the way that I just began conversations with the other avatars with much more self-assurance than I would have in a face to face interaction.
While I know that I showed changes in my behavior that were consistent with Yee and Bailenson’s findings, I think that I really only made such drastic confidence changes because I had read their article and was aware of their findings prior to my experience in Second Life. When I interacted with other avatars, I constantly had the thought in the back of my mind that “I was a tall, young, pretty avatar and that I should not be afraid to approach other avatars.” As I look back and analyze what influenced my avatar’s behavior, I do accept the fact that my attractiveness may have indeed influenced my behavior more than I think it did. However, I think that a third party perspective watching the interaction is really necessary to properly determine the Proteus Effect.
Comments:
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-second-life.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-hit-and-run.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)