Tuesday, November 13, 2007
10: Second Life
Like many of you, this was also my first experience with an online video game. Second Life, a multi-user virtual space, seems to have been a great first choice. I first entered the Orientation Station as Charlize Ponnier and spent some time learning the game. Having read Yee and Bailenson’s research before starting the game, I wanted to test their theory of a Proteus Effect. This Effect is the idea that users in an online environment conform to the perceived expectations and stereotypes associated with the characteristics of an avatar. For the most part my avatar resembled my “girl next door” look, with the exception of a significantly enlarged nose and thicker body build. Generally, I’m a pretty secure person. I thought changing these characteristics might have a negative impact on my confidence level while interacting with other players. I played second life for nearly an hour and a half, but did not feel that these changes had any effect on my interaction with other players, although, I will say that it might have had an impact on who interacted with me. I talked with both attractive and less attractive players. It’s possible that some of the less attractive players would not have approached me if I were better looking. I found that I still had the confidence to approach some of the best looking players. Introducing myself as being new to the game, I asked questions about how to play and activities they enjoyed and recommended. These “good looking” players still gave me the courtesy of responding and offering advice. Overall, I spent a lot of energy trying to figure out the game and exploring different opportunities. This caused me to feel a bit distant from the game and focus on what I was doing rather than how I was doing it. In their analysis of the Proteus Effect, Yee and Bailenson argued that one’s self-presentation would transform their behavior. I did not have this experience. This may have been the result of being a knowing participant in an experiment and trying to get adjusted to the game. However, if I came to feel comfortable within the game and to believe that my avatar was some reflection of me or of a psychological manifestation of who I wanted to be, then I can easily see the potential for a Proteus Effect.
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5 comments:
Melissa:
I can completely relate to your post because I too felt very disconnected to the game. After the initial "Orientation Island" fiasco, I spent way too much time trying to get my avatar to look like me before I could indulge myself in the game. I was also unable to find any Proteus Effect on me as I felt like I continued to interact with others in the game as I would in real life. I'm curious, did you see other theories play into your experience? I personally thought PIU worked really well with this game because I found myself obsessing over how perfect my avatar had to be in looking like me.
I think it is very interesting, and important, that you mentioned how you were busy experimenting with the game and thus didn't feel the Proteus effect. I think this may have had a very large impact on how you interacted with others and analyzed your actions. Since you had the expectations that your character's image would change your behavior (and you had the expectation that it wouldn't hold true since you are a confident individual), I think these both played a role in making you immune to the proteus effect. Being aware of how your behavior could be effected maybe did the opposite in unconsciously forcing you to prove that it didn't effect you.
I thought you did a good job though backing up your conclusions and explaining your interaction with other players :)
Melissa,
I can easily relate to your experience in Second Life. I didn’t feel that the attractiveness of my avatar influenced my behavior either. In line with what I think you were saying: I didn’t feel invested in my avatar, or consider it a self-representation – rendering the Proteus Effect inapplicable. It would be interesting to see how our perceptions changed over time, assuming we continued to play the game. On another note, I like your analysis of how the attractiveness of your avatar may have influenced other’s behavior or perceptions instead. It’s interesting to consider that even in a virtual environment, looks matter. Overall, nice job. I really enjoyed your post.
I definately agree with most of your post. It took me way to long to orient myself to the game, learning how to interact with the other avatars and find my way around the world. When i finally did learn, I found my own personality showing through on my avatar (maybe because I thought it would be interesting if the avatar looked like me) and found no proteus effect. I thought it was great that you were able to see that you knew that you were a subject in an experiment, so it was less likely that you would fall victim to the effect. It would also be interesting to note that even though the other avatars may be attractive or not, their actual players may or may not be attractive, thus also influencing their behaviors.
I've played Second Life before (not for this assignment), and I remember being stuck with that "Orientation" nonsense. I think you are right about what you said about there being a potential for a Proteus effect. One of the biggest problems with trying to determine if there was a Proteus effect for this assignment was that people were only required to play for a short amount of time. I believe that, given more time, there would be a higher chance of someone experiencing this effect, because he or she would have many more interactions.
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