The way people experience and behave socially depends not only on who they are but also on their social context. Congruent with this assumption, our report focuses on how user’s personality along with social identity priming by means of using similar or dissimilar avatars influenced the way people perceived artificial partners and made decisions in a social dilemma presented in a 3D virtual environment.
After a single player game, participants using similar avatars wearing in-group colors reported increased perceived self-avatar similarity and agent believability. Additionally, extraverts reported a more positive and socially connected game experience. In contrast, players higher in neuroticism had a more negative and disconnected experience. Overall, the results show that in-game experiences depend on participant’s salient social identity and personality.
Before playing the game, each participant took personality tests, provided demographic information and rated their experience with digital technologies.The participants played the game with human or artificial collaborators without fully knowing who exactly they were playing with, and did so in conditions that affected social identification with one’s team (e.g., using avatars wearing the participants’ University color or not).
During the game, the participants were under certain conditions: for example, they had no visual contact between them.
After playing the game, participants provided information about the experience. In-game behaviors were also measured.
See more results in the Publications section.
