The age of avatar representation

Dr. Sonja Baumer of the University of California at San Diego works in the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition and has noticed that age groups choose their avatars differently. Her thoughts are based on "developmental theories, still 'under construction' and yet to be systematically examined." But she's a PhD, so we'll go ahead and talk about her thoughts.

• Children and tween identity is "encoded" for the most part through physical appearance. So they spend the most time and emotional investment into choosing the exact look of an avatar. They must be one with their avatar and have it represent them. This certainly brings up some good realms of study on how a child or tween self-identifies.

• Adult identity is "encoded" through symbolic action. For adults it's not so much about how they look, but what they do. The man makes the clothes, the clothes don't make the man.

• For teenagers and young adults both physical and symbolic ways are relevant. "However, due to the design limitations of most visual chatrooms, there is an imbalance between the 'flatness' of avatars' representation and the sophisticated self representation through symbolic action." Meaning teenagers are confused and don't know what they want, which is what being a teenager is all about.

It would be interesting to see if these ideas are applicable 20 years from now. Most adults now didn't grow up with the possibility of an avatar representing them in a virtual world, which might explain the disinterest. If business is eventually conducted using avatars in a virtual space to save on travel time, then adults will certainly believe the clothes make the man.

[via Raph Koster]