What is it about?
In social virtual reality (VR) applications like "VRChat", avatars, our digital bodies, are central to online interactions. Researchers are increasingly interested in how the appearance of avatars can influence behaviour, both our own and that of others. Our research explored if the ability to personalise or customise an avatar gave rise to different experiences than using a predefined, assigned avatar. Specifically, we investigated the impact on feelings of social presence (how much the other participant was perceived as “real” and sharing the social situation), and relational communication (how participants considered each other, themselves and their relationship in the given situation). To do this, we ran an experiment in collaborative VR with full-body setup to compare participants using either their personally-created avatar, or one that was assigned to them.
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Why is it important?
Avatar customisation did not seem to make a significant difference to either social presence or relational communication, although both outcomes were rated positively by all participants. There were also indications that participants with customised avatars seemed more self-focused, occasionally using virtual mirrors to look at their own avatars rather than concentrating solely on the task. Meanwhile, assigned avatars may have worked a bit like uniforms, reducing distractions and creating a sense of equality between partners. Avatar customisation is a popular feature in social VR, and avatar design is often seen as central to VR experiences. However, this study suggests it may not be a game-changer for collaboration in task-oriented settings. Instead, the immersive nature of VR itself, combined with thoughtful design choices, plays a bigger role in shaping how we connect and communicate.
Perspectives
I hope the findings of this research will benefit those building VR environments or planning collaborative experiences in VR, particularly as virtual environments are increasingly becoming more integrated into areas such as work and education. As use of VR environments increase, the key to creating more meaningful and effective shared VR experiences will be to understanding both how avatars influence us and others, and the ways we interact in different communication contexts in virtual spaces.
Anna-Leena Macey
Tampereen yliopisto
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Are We in This Together? Investigating the Relationship of Avatar Customisation, Social Presence, and Communication Outcomes in Collaborative Embodied Virtual Reality, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, October 2025, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3757552.
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