The DOI matches its Crossref record; 8 of the 8 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Role of the Avatar in Gaming for Trans and Gender Diverse Young People
Abstract
A significant proportion of trans and gender diverse (TGD) young people report membership of the gaming community and resultant benefits to wellbeing. To date their experiences and needs regarding a key feature of games, the avatar, are largely unexplored, despite increasing interest in the therapeutic role of avatars in the general population. The aim of this study was to better understand the role of the avatar in gaming, its impact on TGD young people’s mental health, and their unique needs regarding avatar design. N = 17 TGD young people aged 11–22 years (M = 16.3 years) participated in four focus groups. A general inductive approach was used to thematically analyze the transcribed data. TGD young people report considerable therapeutic benefits of using avatars with positive mental health implications. Importantly, TGD young people use avatars to explore, develop and rehearse their experienced gender identities, often as a precursor to coming out in the offline world. They also report negative experiences of feeling excluded due to the constraints of conventional notions of gender that are widely reflected in game design. Participants described simple design features to better reflect gender diversity, such as increased customization. Such changes would facilitate the positive gains reported by participants and better reflect the diversity of young people who use games. The findings have important implications for both recreational and serious or therapeutic game design.
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“In focus groups with 17 trans and gender diverse young people aged 11-22 in Australia, Morgan et al. (2020) found that creating an avatar in one's experienced gender was often a first, private step before coming out offline, and could be therapeutic in its own right.”
From Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies for LGBTQ+ youth: a narrative review (2026) · cites this paper as Morgan et al. (2020)
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies for LGBTQ+ youth: a narrative review
Shekarchi, R., Eleuteri, S., Saladino, V., Calaresi, D., Giordano, F., & Prunas, A. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.2002054
Metadata
- Authors
- Morgan, H., O'Donovan, A., Almeida, R., Lin, A., & Perry, Y.
- Affiliations
- College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education (SHEE), Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150, Australia
- Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-11-20
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 8617
- ISSN
- 1660-4601
- PMC
- PMC7699515
- Cited by
- 72
- References
- 8
- Language
- en
- Funders
- Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway) Exploratory Research Grant (#31975)
- Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (No grant number)
- Giorgetta Charity Fund (No grant number)
- NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (#1148793)
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