Getting Into the Game: An Examination of Player Personality Projection in Videogame Avatars

Discussion In 2015, the video game industry recorded greater profit and engaged a greater and more diverse audience than ever before (Entertainment Software Association 2015). The growth in the industry has made the medium of videogames a serious competitor with the film and music industry. Contrary to these other mediums which are largely passive in nature, videogames are “completed” through player/audience engagement (Papale, 2014). Through both actorialized and unactorialized user interfaces (UIs), videogames both require and facilitate player immersion. This is to say at minimum, players are encouraged to control and potentially share the goals of protagonist avatar, and in more extreme cases develop parasocial interactions or identification with the characters. More recently, many games attempt to go beyond identification and instead facilitate “presence” within the digital environment (Klimmt, Hefner, Vorderer, Roth, & Blake 2010, Li, Liau, and Khoo 2013, Lombard and Ditton 1997, Peng 2008). The concept of presence presumes that players project aspects of themselves into the game itself. Many studies have examined aspects of this phenomena, but many have focused on the construction and use of an avatar that is aesthetically similar to the player. Some research has found that players who create avatars that are representations of either their actual self or ideal self constructs tend to experience a greater level of identification with their avatars (Cheng, Farnham, & Stone 2002, Pringle 2015, Taylor 2002, 40-62). Furthermore, Klimmt (2010) found evidence of a positive correlation between identification with an avatar and feelings of immersion within the game world. While physical appearance is certainly not the only way to presumably create identification with an avatar, it is a commonly used technique in much of the previous research because it can Apparatus The study used the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360). The game was chosen for its highly detailed character creation system, open world environment, and non-linear game dynamic. It was of particular importance to choose a game that did not predetermine a particular morality in order for success as this would allow players to project their own morality into their gameplay and decisions. Sample The study sampled 57 students (27 females, 27 males) with an almost even distribution of participants who self-reported as either “Casual” or “Non-Gamer” (n=30) and “Moderate,” “Heavy,” or “Very Heavy” (n=24) videogame players. All subjects consented to the study and video monitoring of gameplay showed all 57 of the original 121 subjects actively completed the gameplay session. Design Subjects were asked to take two surveys, separated by an experimental period of gameplay. Prior to gameplay, subjects took a version of the “Big 5” five-factor personality inventory developed originally by Goldberg (1992). This provided a baseline for subject personality in five areas: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The pre-gameplay survey also contained questions that would establish a baseline for subject disposition toward the five tested personality factors. Representative personality traits were placed in dichotomous The results of the first correlation test (subject/disposition), showed four of the five personality dimensions demonstrating significant correlation. The factor of emotional stability did not show a significant correlation between subject personality score and subject disposition toward that factor (r(52) = 0.249, p > . 05 (0.069)), but was approaching a base significance of p < . 05. With four of the five personality factors tested showing strong correlation, it is enough to confirm H1, that in most dimensions of personality, there is a strong positive correlation between an individual’s own personality, and what they perceive as ideal. The second correlation test (disposition/ avatar), displayed strong correlation only in the factor of openness (r(52) = . 372, p < . 01), and even this correlation was weaker than the significant subject/ disposition correlations. This does not confirm H2, that there would be a positive correlation between subject disposition toward personality dimensions and what subjects built into or projected into their avatars. The fact that openness did show moderately strong correlation is worth further analysis. Finally, the results of the third correlation test (subject/avatar), again showed moderate significance only in the factor of openness pairs and evaluated with a 7-point Likert scale (e.g. talkative/quiet, social/reserved, diplomatic/brutally honest). Approximately one week after the initial survey, players were asked to play 3 hours of Skyrim in order to more strongly develop a connection to their created avatar. Upon completion, subjects took a modified “Big 5” inventory and were asked to answer based on the characteristics and presumed personality of their avatar (e.g. “My character is the life of the party.”, “My character is always prepared.”). Measures Bivariate correlations were run between subject scores (actual self), disposition scores (ideal self), and avatar scores (projected self) for each of the five personality factors. For each subject, subject and avatar personality scores ranged between 1 and 5 for each of the five factors. Disposition was scored similarly, but a final score between 1 and 7 was calculated for each personality dimension for each subject. Correlations were then tested with the bivariate of subject/ disposition used to test the H1, disposition/ avatar to test H2, and then subject/avatar to examine Q1. Ultimately, partial proving or disproving of the hypotheses was expected as each correlation test was run for each of the five dimensions and it was entirely possible for some personality dimensions to show correlation and others to show none. H1: There will be positive correlations between subject disposition toward personality dimensions and subject personality scores.