Me, Myself, and My Avatar: Self-Discrepancy, Embodiment, and Narrative Involvement in Gaming Experiences

Me, Myself, and My Avatar: Self-Discrepancy, Embodiment, and Narrative Involvement in Gaming Experiences

Me, Myself, and My Avatar: Self-Discrepancy, Embodiment, and Narrative Involvement in Gaming Experiences

M. Marie Devlin, Morgan E. Ellithorpe, Nicholas Gadino, David R. Ewoldsen, Susanna Weir

Abstract

"Avatars are customizable digital representations of people used in digital games. Self-discrepancy theory hypothesizes that people have three general representations of the self: actual, ought, and ideal. Two studies, one survey and the other experimental, explored the relationship between self-discrepancy theory, embodi-ment, and people’s avatars. Results indicated that participants experienced higher levels of embodiment when they perceived their avatar as matching the attributes of their actual self. Embodiment was significantly associated with boundary expansion and transportation. Other results in the study are discussed, along with its limitations, potential implications for game developers, as well as directions for future research on gam- ing. These findings extend our understanding of avatars’ effect on the gaming experience."

Reference

Devlin, M. M., Ellithorpe, M. E., Gadino, N., Ewoldsen, D. R., & Weir, S. (2024). Me, myself, and my avatar: Self-discrepancy, embodiment, and narrative involvement in gaming experiences. Psychology of Popular Media, 14(2), 294–303. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000542

Keywords

Avatars, Self-discrepancy, Embodiment