Are We Influenced By The Appearance Of An In-Game Avatar?

Modern society is not without stereotypes related to gender and the appearance of women.

Researchers studied just how people interacted with avatars in an online game, and how women received less help from fellow players than men when they operated unattractive avatars compared to when they used a male avatar.

"It doesn't matter if you have an ugly avatar or not, if you're a man, you'll still receive about the same amount of help," said T. Franklin Waddell, a doctoral candidate in mass communications, Penn State, in a news release. "However, if you are a woman and operate an unattractive avatar, you will receive significantly less help."

For the study, researchers focused on six different avatars to examine the reactions to help requests among 2,300 players of the online game, World of Warcraft. Avatars represented male and female creatures across three different levels of attractiveness and participants were required to evaluate their level of attractiveness prior to the study as high, medium or low.

During an online session, researchers would approach a player with requests regarding directions that might also reveal a clue about the sex of the operator.

"For example, if I approach a player, I might say, 'Can you help a guy out?' to signal that I was a male operating the avatar," said Waddell. "If I wanted to signal that I was a female operator, I would say, 'Can you help a girl out?'"

Researchers said the findings suggest how appearance stereotypes are more likely to affect women over men in the real world.

"Overall, many of the same gender and sexual stereotypes seem to permeate the online worlds," Waddell said. "The study supports the idea that our responses to stereotypes and norms follow us from real life into virtual environments."

Another finding even showed that players were less likely to help women who controlled a male avatar than a man who controlled a female avatar.

"Businesses often want to provide employees and customers with as many technological options as possible," concluded Waddell."However, if business people are going to use avatars to interact with each other or with customers, they may want to use avatars that are gender neutral, for example, or they risk bringing all of those stereotypes from the real world into their online environments."

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media.