Designing the Self: Avatar Customization, Identity, and Affect in Social Virtual Environments

Abstract

An online experiment (N=82) investigated whether avatar customization (vs. assignment) influences short-term positive and negative affect (PANAS), avatar identification, and customization satisfaction during two web-based Cyberball games. Guided by self-referential perspectives of avatar use, the study examines whether or not avatar customization shapes affective experiences through the agency afforded by avatar creation and identification with self-representative avatars. Participants were stratified into groups representing either a well-represented (White) or underrepresented (Asian American and Pacific Islander; AAPI) demographic in avatar customization interfaces. Despite limited differences in positive and negative affect between White and AAPI participants in the customization condition, differences in customization satisfaction may indicate that representational constraints in avatar design interfaces shape virtual experiences in subtle ways. These findings highlight how avatar customization interfaces may reproduce identity-based exclusion and function as subtle microaggressions in virtual environments when social identity is insufficiently supported.