Jaime Banks

Avatars are (sometimes) people too: Linguistic indicators of parasocial and social ties in player–avatar relationships:

As principal links between players and many gameworlds, avatars are of central importance in understanding human behavior and communication in play. In particular, the connection between player and avatar is understood as influencing a range of cognitive, affective, and behavioral play phenomena. Divergent approaches examine this connection from both parasocial (one-way, non-dialectical) and social (two-way, dialectical) perspectives. This study examined how player–avatar connections may be better understood by integrating an existing parasocial approach (character attachment [CA]) with a social approach (player–avatar relationships [PARs]). A quantitative linguistic analysis of massively multiplayer online game (MMO) player interviews revealed statistically robust associations among language patterns, dimensions of CA, and PAR types. Validating and extending prior research, findings highlight the importance of self-differentiation and anthropomorphization in suspending disbelief so that the avatar may be taken as a fully social agent.

Emotion, anthropomorphism, realism, control

This article proposes a validated 15-item scale that merges theoretically divergent perspectives on player-avatar relations in extant literature (parasociality as psychological merging and sociality as psychological divergence) to measure player-avatar interaction (PAX). PAX is defined as the perceived social and functional association between an MMO player and game avatar, inclusive of four factors: emotional investment, anthropomorphic autonomy, suspension of disbelief, and sense of player control. These four factors were stable across two large multi-game (N?=?494) and game-specific player samples (N?=?458), in both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Construct validity tests show scale dimensions have expected significant relationships with a sense of human-like relatedness and player-avatar relationship features, and predictive validity tests indicate theoretically likely and relevant factor associations with gameplay motivations and MMO genres. Historically, player-avatar relations have been examined as parasocial.Emerging research suggests variable relations: non-social to parasocial to social.A 15-item merged metric of player-avatar interaction (PAX) was developed, validated.PAX integrates para/social dimensions: emotion, anthropomorphism, realism, control.Construct/predictive validity tests for two large samples support the metrics utility.

Full length articleEmotion, anthropomorphism, realism, control: Validation of a merged metric for player–avatar interaction (PAX)

This article proposes a validated 15-item scale that merges theoretically divergent perspectives on player-avatar relations in extant literature (parasociality as psychological merging and sociality as psychological divergence) to measure player-avatar interaction (PAX). PAX is defined as the perceived social and functional association between an MMO player and game avatar, inclusive of four factors: emotional investment, anthropomorphic autonomy, suspension of disbelief, and sense of player control. These four factors were stable across two large multi-game (N?=?494) and game-specific player samples (N?=?458), in both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Construct validity tests show scale dimensions have expected significant relationships with a sense of human-like relatedness and player-avatar relationship features, and predictive validity tests indicate theoretically likely and relevant factor associations with gameplay motivations and MMO genres. Historically, player-avatar relations have been examined as parasocial.Emerging research suggests variable relations: non-social to parasocial to social.A 15-item merged metric of player-avatar interaction (PAX) was developed, validated.PAX integrates para/social dimensions: emotion, anthropomorphism, realism, control.Construct/predictive validity tests for two large samples support the metrics utility.

Multimodal, multiplex, multispatial: A network model of the self

Contemporary culture finds human experience spread across various digital and physical spaces. Although many scholars embrace derivative perspectives of a distributed self—dramaturgical, multiphrenic, networked—these notions are seldom engaged as empirically testable theories. This article proposes a theoretical model to foster such empirical examination, in which the “self” is not engaged as a node in broader social networks, but taken as a network itself. That is, the self is reframed as a subjectively experienced network of identities that are, themselves, complex assemblages of many different kinds of objects. In this way, the binaries of me/not-me, human/nonhuman, material/immaterial, and digital/physical are unraveled in favor of more precisely identified interrelated agents giving rise to the Self across digital and physical contexts.

Communicating age in Second Life: The contributions of textual and visual factors

Although considerable research has identified patterns in online communication and interaction related to a range of individual characteristics, analyses of age have been limited, especially those that compare age groups. Research that does examine online communication by age largely focuses on linguistic elements. However, social identity approaches to group communication emphasize the importance of non-linguistic factors such as appearance and non-verbal behaviors. These factors are especially important to explore in online settings where traditional physical markers of age are largely unseen. To examine ways that users communicate age identity through both visual and textual means, we use multiple linear regression and qualitative methods to explore the behavior of 201 players of a custom game in the virtual world Second Life. Analyses of chat, avatar movement, and appearance suggest that although residents primarily used youthful-looking avatars, age differences emerged more strongly in visual factors than in language use.

Of beard physics and worldness: The (non-)effect of enhanced anthropomorphism on player–avatar relations.

Advances in realistic graphics and artificial intelligence are hallmarks of evolved video games, as environments and characters are made to seem more real. Little is known, however, about whether or not character model changes may impact players’ relationships with familiar avatars, especially since anthropomorphism—the perception of nonhuman objects as being human or humanlike—is understood as central to player–avatar interaction (PAX). This study leveraged a naturally occurring change to massively multiplayer online game avatars to conduct a field quasiexperiment to investigate whether enhanced avatar anthropomorphism influences PAX dimensions: emotional investment, anthropomorphic autonomy, suspension of disbelief, and sense of control. Longitudinal analysis showed that enhanced anthropomorphism had no significant impact on any PAX dimension immediately or over time, when controlling for demographic and gameplay variables. Player comments suggest the change was experienced not as a change in humanness, but as a shift in perceptual realism—believability, lifelikeness, depth—that impacted the experience of the avatar-mediated gameworld more broadly.

Through the Looking Glass (Self): The Impact of Wearable Technology on Perceptions of Face-to-Face Interaction

Advancements in wearable technology have allowed for extradyadic social cues to be inserted directly (albeit conspicuously) into face-to-face interactions. The current study simulated a fictitious “Looking Glass” program that (a) autodetects (via facial recognition) one’s partner and (b) displays that person’s last 12 social media posts on a pair of Google Glass. In a randomized case/control experiment, nonwearers were more likely to perceive Glass wearers as physically attractive and socioemotionally close, while feeling lower self-esteem and having higher mental and physical demand with the conversation. Open-ended data suggested Glass wearers to be less attentive to the conversation, and Glass-present conversations were less on topic. These data, while preliminary and based on a small sample of users, hold implications for future application and research on cyborgic face-to-face interactions.

“As good as your word”: face-threat mitigation and the use of instructor nonverbal cues on students’ perceptions of digital feedback

ABSTRACT Research has established that students often consider the delivery of instructor feedback to be a face-threatening event. To minimize the potential negative effects of feedback, verbal and nonverbal face-threat mitigation (FTM) strategies are utilized by instructors. Advances in digital feedback systems, like online documents and learning management platforms, allow instructors to add nonverbal elements, such as profile pictures or emojis, to this feedback. Two mixed-method studies were employed to investigate the role of these nonverbal cues in digital feedback. Study 1 (N = 236) employed a 2 by 2 experiment (presence or absence of FTM tactics by presence or absence of instructor picture), showing that FTM strategies have substantial positive impact on feedback and instructor perceptions, and that the inclusion of instructor pictures with this feedback has no effect. Study 2 (N = 218) utilized a 2 by 2 experimental design (presence or absence of FTM tactics by presence or absence of matched-valence emojis). Results confirm main effects of FTM techniques (mitigation strategies lead to positive effects), but the addition of emojis had no perceptible influence. Implications for technology-driven instructional feedback are discussed.

Coping with [R]evolution in Online Games: Vulnerability and Resilience Responses to Change in MMO Game Expansions

Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) often introduce new content and mechanics to increase player retention and enjoyment. Drawing on theories of socioecological risk response, this exploratory study examines players’ in situ responses to these changes by analyzing patterns in public, in-game chat across 3 game expansions. Analysis reveals that a) change facilitates agenda setting in player chat, b) vulnerability and resilience expressions highlight tensions in player and game agencies, and c) increased semantic distance between the game and the “real” helps cope with game changes. In addition, sociotechnical affordances of MMO environments could be a mechanism for coping with change, more generally.

A perceived moral agency scale: Development and validation of a metric for humans and social machines

Abstract Although current social machine technology cannot fully exhibit the hallmarks of human morality or agency, popular culture representations and emerging technology make it increasingly important to examine human interlocutors’ perception of social machines (e.g., digital assistants, chatbots, robots) as moral agents. To facilitate such scholarship, the notion of perceived moral agency (PMA) is proposed and defined, and a metric developed and validated through two studies: (1) a large-scale online survey featuring potential scale items and concurrent validation metrics for both machine and human targets, and (2) a scale validation study with robots presented as variably agentic and moral. The PMA metric is shown to be reliable, valid, and exhibiting predictive utility.