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Cited by 461Virtual Reality Applications and ImpactsDigital Games and MediaSocial Robot Interaction and HRI

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Body and mind: a study of avatar personalization in three virtual worlds

Ducheneaut, Nicolas, Wen, Ming-Hui, Yee, Nicholas, Wadley, Greg·2009·Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
DOI 10.1145/1518701.1518877
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Abstract

An increasingly large number of users connect to virtual worlds on a regular basis to conduct activities ranging from gaming to business meetings. In all these worlds, users project themselves into the environment via an avatar: a 3D body which they control and whose appearance is often customizable. However, considering the prevalence of this form of embodiment, there is a surprising lack of data about how and why users customize their avatar, as well as how easy and satisfying the existing avatar creation tools are. In this paper, we report on a study investigating these issues through a questionnaire administered to more than a hundred users of three virtual worlds offering widely different avatar creation and customization systems (Maple Story, World of Warcraft, and Second Life). We illustrate the often-surprising choices users make when creating their digital representation and discuss the impact of our findings for the design of future avatar creation systems.

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Research works printed but not linked: 19

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Metadata

Authors
Ducheneaut, N., Wen, M.-H., Yee, N., & Wadley, G.
Affiliations
  • Palo Alto Research Center (US)
  • National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (TW)
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher
ACM
Published
2009-04-04
Pages
1151-1160
DOI
10.1145/1518701.1518877
OpenAlex
W2131174334
Cited by
461
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 23
FWCI
18.82
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright_policy#Background (vor)
Locations
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
Keywords
avatar customization, virtual worlds, embodiment, online self-representation, user preferences, avatar design, Second Life, World of Warcraft, user satisfaction

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