PLAYING A SELF:
an exploration into the effect of avatar and group identification on
gamer ratings of self, ideal self and avatar personality in MMORPGs
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) are virtual spaces in which
gamers are able to act and communicate through their avatars. As these avatars are
customizable and evolve during game play, the question arises as to who or what they
resemble. A recent study, by Bessière et al. (2007) indicates that World of Warcraft (WoW)
players attribute more ideal personality traits to their avatars than to their actual self. More
specifically, they found that WoW gamers' assessment of their avatar's conscientiousness,
extraversion and neuroticism is situated more closely to the gamer’s ideal self than to the
gamer’s self. However, the question remains if these attributions are due to the use of an
avatar to construct an idealized self (the idealization hypothesis) or to construct an avatar with
generally desirable and adaptive traits (the desirability hypothesis).
In this paper we first replicate Bessière et al.'s study whereby its findings related to the
avatar’s more ideal ratings of conscientiousness, extraversion and neuroticism are confirmed.
However, an additional, reversed effect is found for openness, which indicates that
concerning openness, avatars are rated as less ideal than the self.
In response to the discord between the idealization hypothesis and the desirability hypothesis,
we question whether the avatar’s more ideal personality traits are influenced by the degree to
which a gamer identifies with their avatar. The results show that a high degree of avatar
identification is associated with more ideal avatar ratings for conscientiousness, neuroticism,
extraversion and openness. These findings are supportive of the idealization hypothesis,
indicating a relationship between strong avatar identification and more ideal ratings of an
avatar.
Also, as an MMORPG is a social and cooperative environment in which communication takes
place through the avatar, we explore the effect of identification with a guild (group
identification) on the avatar’s assessed personality. The results indicate that high group
identification is associated with a more extraverted avatar.
Finally, given their immersive and time-consuming nature, MMORPGs are often associated
with pathological gaming. In our paper we question whether pathological gaming is
associated with the construction of a more ideal avatar. The results are negative: no effect of
pathological gaming is found on the discrepancy between the ideal self's and the avatar's
personality traits. However, we found that WoW players who report a high degree of
pathological gaming rate themselves as more distant from their ideal self.
Finally, our paper provides evidence for the occurrence of avatar idealization. A strong
identification with the avatar goes hand in hand with more ideal ratings of the four
aforementioned personality traits. Moreover, we found that an in-game social orientation is
associated with a more ideally extraverted avatar. Finally, our results indicate that
pathological gaming is not associated with the construction of an ideal avatar.
Bessière, K., Saey, A.F. &Kiesler, S. (2007). The Ideal Elf: Identity Exploration in World of
Warcraft.Cyberpsychology & Behavior10(4), 530-535.