Read the passage below and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.
Thirteen-year-old Desmond, better known in cyberspace as Captain Obvious, modifies his avatar in the online role-playing game Borderlands II. He calls the character who wears an eye patch and a dockworker’s skull cap “Butch.” Desmond describes Butch as “psychotic.” But when other players look at Butch, are they drawing conclusions about Desmond? Research suggests that they might be.
Avatars can be chosen as a way to draw attention to yourself, give others a glimpse of your interests, or capture some aspect of your personality (Suler, 2007). Researchers who looked at players in the massive online role-playing game Second Life suggest that avatars are “highly controlled information transmitters, well-suited to strategic self-presentation that can be used to communicate any of the selves” (Bélisle & Bodur, 2010). Put simply, specific cues in avatars communicate certain aspects of the self. For example, male avatars with long hair or stylish hairstyles were widely perceived as more extroverted, whereas those with jeans, gray shirts, long-sleeved shirts, or black hair were perceived as introverted. So when players choose specific attributes for avatars — from the way they look to what they wear — it is likely that they are making their choices in order to convey specific personal attributes.
Even if you did not design the avatar yourself, there is some evidence that your self-concept and behavior may be affected by the physical characteristics of an avatar randomly assigned to you; people who were assigned to more attractive avatars self-disclosed more and talked more intimately with others than those assigned less attractive avatars (Yee & Bailenson, 2007).