Deception in cyberspace: A comparison of text-only vs. avatar-supported medium

The use of anthropomorphic avatars provides Internet users the opportunity and freedom to manipulate their identity. As cyberspace becomes a haven for deceptive behavior, human–computer interaction research will need to be carried out to study and understand these deceptive behaviors. The objective of this research is to investigate the behavior of deceivers and non-deceivers (or truth-tellers) in the cyberspace environment. We examine if the intention to deceive others influences one's choice of avatars in the online chat environment. We also investigate if communication medium (text-only vs. avatar-supported chat) influences one's perception of trustworthiness of the communication partner. A lab experiment was conducted in an online chat environment with dyads. The results indicate that in the text-only chat environment, subjects who were deceiving their partner experienced higher anxiety levels than those who were truthful to their partner; however, the same phenomenon was not observed in the avatar-supported chat environment. This suggests that “wearing a mask” in cyberspace may reduce anxiety in deceiving others. Additionally, deceivers are more likely to choose avatars that are different from their real selves. The results also show that the use of avatars in a computer-mediated chat environment does not have an impact on one's perceived trustworthiness.     

On generating realistic avatars: dress in your own style

The use of 3D avatars is becoming more frequent with the development of computer technology and the internet. To meet users?? requirements, some software or programs have allowed users to customize the avatar. However, users are only able to customize the avatar using the pre-defined accessories such as hair, clothing and so on. That is, users have limited chance to customize the avatar according to their own styles. It will be of interest to users if they are able to change the appearance of the avatar by their own design, such as creating garments for avatars themselves. This paper provides an easy solution to dressing realistic 3D avatars for non-professional users based on a sketch interface. After a user drawing a 2D garment profile around the avatar, the prototype system can generate an elaborate 3D geometric garment surface dressed on the avatar. The construction of the garment surface is constrained by key body features. And the garment shape is then optimized to remove artefacts. The proposed method can generate a uniform mesh for processing such as mesh refinement, 3D decoration and so on.     

An interactive virtual guide for the AR based visit of archaeological sites

One of the most interesting research lines about avatars is the design and the implementation of a synthetic behaviour able to drive avatar's actions according to an adaptive interaction paradigm. This aspect, indeed, is of fundamental importance to many advanced applications involving avatars and humans. This study presents a novel framework exploiting augmented reality to visualize a synthetic 3D virtual guide inside an exhibit or a public gallery, to assist visitors wearing a Head Mounted Display during their visit and providing them with both visual and informative enhancements not available in a standard tour. The Human–avatar interaction is approached through a model based on timed automata to address the conversational issues and to improve the quality of interaction by means of an effective synchronization. A usability study conducted on an application of this research to the “avatar assisted tour” of a roman villa, confirms the efficacy of the approach.     

“It doesn’t matter what you are!” Explaining social effects of agents and avatars

Empirical studies have repeatedly shown that autonomous artificial entities, so-called embodied conversational agents, elicit social behavior on the part of the human interlocutor. Various theoretical approaches have tried to explain this phenomenon: According to the Threshold Model of Social Influence (Blascovich et al., 2002), the social influence of real persons who are represented by avatars will always be high, whereas the influence of an artificial entity depends on the realism of its behavior. Conversely, the Ethopoeia concept (Nass & Moon, 2000) predicts that automatic social reactions are triggered by situations as soon as they include social cues. The presented study evaluates whether participants´ belief in interacting with either an avatar (a virtual representation of a human) or an agent (autonomous virtual person) lead to different social effects. We used a 2 × 2 design with two levels of agency (agent or avatar) and two levels of behavioral realism (showing feedback behavior versus showing no behavior). We found that the belief of interacting with either an avatar or an agent barely resulted in differences with regard to the evaluation of the virtual character or behavioral reactions, whereas higher behavioral realism affected both. It is discussed to what extent the results thus support the Ethopoeia concept.     

The power of a nod and a glance: Envelope vs. emotional feedback in animated conversational agents

In this article we describe results froman experiment of user interaction with autonomous , human - like ( humanoid ) conversational agents . We hypothesize that for embodied conversational agents , nonverbal behaviors related to the process of conversation , what we call envelope feedback, is much more important than other feedback , such as emotional expression . We test this hypothesis by having subjects interact with three autonomous agents , all capable of full - duplex multimodal interaction: able to generate and recognize speech , intonation , facial displays , and gesture . Each agent , however , gave a different kind of feedback: ( 1 ) content - related only , ( 2 ) content + envelope feedback , and ( 3 ) content + emotional . Content-related feedback includes answering questions and executing commands; envelope feedback includes behaviors such as gaze , manual beat gesture , and head movements; emotional feedback includes smiles and looks of puzzlement . Subjects' evaluations of the systemwere collected with a questionnaire , and videotapes of their speech patterns and behaviors were scored according to how often the users repeated themselves , how often they hesitated , and how often they got frustrated . The results confirmour hypothesis that envelope feedback is more important in interaction than emotional feedback and that envelope feedback plays a crucial role in supporting the process of dialog . A secondary result fromthis study shows that users give our multimodal conversational humanoids very high ratings of lifelikeness and fluidity of interaction when the agents are capable of giving such feedback .     

Choose your “buddy icon” carefully: The influence of avatar androgyny, anthropomorphism and credibility in online interactions

In both online and offline interactions, the visual representation of people influences how others perceive them. In contrast to the offline body, an online visual representation of a person is consciously chosen and not stable. This paper reports the results of a 2 step examination of the influence of avatars on the person perception process. Specifically, this project examines the reliance on visual characteristics during the online perception process, and the relative influence of androgyny, anthropomorphism and credibility. In the first step, 255 participants fill out a survey where they rated a set of 30 static avatars on their credibility, androgyny, and anthropomorphism. The second step is a between subjects experiment with 230 participants who interact with partners represented by one of eight avatars (high and low androgyny, and anthropomorphism by high and low credibility). Results show that the characteristics of the avatar are used in the person perception process. Causal modeling techniques revealed that perceptions of avatar androgyny influence perceptions of anthropomorphism, which influences attributions of both avatar and partner credibility. Implications of these results for theory, future research, and users and designers of systems using avatars are discussed.     

The visual characteristics of avatars in computer-mediated communication: Comparison of Internet Relay Chat and Instant Messenger as of 2003

This research focuses on computer-mediated communication where users are represented by a graphical avatar. An avatar represents a user's self-identity and desire for self-disclosure. Therefore, the claim is made that there is a relationship between the characteristics of media and the choice of avatar. This study supports the claim by examining the difference between Internet Relay Chat (IRC) avatars and Instant Messenger (IM) avatars as of 2003 when both media had distinct characteristics and popular avatar service in Korea. Users of IRC are generally anonymous and involved with topic-based group discussions, whereas users of IM are known by their “real” names and communicate via one-on-one chitchatting. We found that avatars as symbols for users can have different characteristics in terms of self-identity and self-disclosure in different media. Gender is found to have significant moderation effect on avatar usage, whereas age is shown to have a mixed moderation effect.     

Deception in avatar-mediated virtual environment

This study explored the effects of avatars on deception – how perceived avatar likeness to self can affect the truthfulness and accuracy of interactions online. More specifically, this study examined the extent to which perceived avatar similarity influences self-awareness and users’ degree of attraction to them, and how these psychological states affect deception in the context of Second Life. The results, based on web-based survey data of 159 Second Life users, revealed that avatar similarity in attitude and behavior to the owner heightened self-awareness, which, in turn, reduced deception. Perceived avatar similarity in terms of appearance was found to have a direct negative impact on deception so that those who perceived their avatars to look similar to themselves were less likely to engage in deceptive behavior. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Multimodal behavior realization for embodied conversational agents

Applications with intelligent conversational virtual humans, called Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs), seek to bring human-like abilities into machines and establish natural human-computer interaction. In this paper we discuss realization of ECA multimodal behaviors which include speech and nonverbal behaviors. We devise RealActor, an open-source, multi-platform animation system for real-time multimodal behavior realization for ECAs. The system employs a novel solution for synchronizing gestures and speech using neural networks. It also employs an adaptive face animation model based on Facial Action Coding System (FACS) to synthesize face expressions. Our aim is to provide a generic animation system which can help researchers create believable and expressive ECAs.     

Me,myself and I: The role of interactional context on self-presentation through avatars

This paper investigates whether the nature of an online environment can prime users to create avatars that emphasize particular characteristics. Participants created an avatar for one of three contrasting settings: blogging, dating or gaming. For the most part, avatars in blogging were created to accurately reflect their owners’ physical appearance, lifestyle and preferences. By contrast, participants in the dating and gaming treatments accentuated certain aspects of their avatar to reflect the tone and perceived expectations of the context. For instance, avatars in dating were made to look more attractive while avatars in gaming were made to look more intellectual. Yet, predominantly, these emphasized avatar attributes drew on participants’ self-image, and thus avatars were perceived by their owners as highly similar to themselves. The implications of these results are discussed against current frameworks of online identity and behavior. Most importantly, we use our results to extract design recommendations for improving avatar-driven applications.     

Understanding emotional bond between the creator and the avatar: Change in behavioral intentions to engage in alcohol-related traffic risk behaviors

This study examines the joint impact of an individual's relationship with his or her avatar and negative consequences to the avatar on changing the individual's behavioral intentions (BI) in terms of alcohol-impaired driving. One hundred eleven participants volunteered to participate in several experimental conditions where the degree of choice of avatar features and the degree of control of the avatar's actions were manipulated in Second Life, an immersive 3D virtual environment. Participants who were allowed to customize their avatars viewed their avatars not only more similar but also emotionally closer to themselves, and perceived their avatars to be physically more attractive than those who were assigned basic avatars. After observing a car crash caused by drunk driving, participants in the choice and control condition were more likely to change BI positively when they identified their avatars to be similar to themselves, and regarded their avatars more attractive. Furthermore, participants who were allowed to control their avatars were more likely to attribute the responsibility of the car accident to themselves than those who observed someone else's avatar playing. Implications for the use of virtual reality games in promoting healthy behaviors are discussed in detail.     

The Influence of the Avatar on Online Perceptions of Anthropomorphism, Androgyny, Credibility, Homophily, and Attraction

It has become increasingly common for Web sites and computer media to provide computer generated visual images, called avatars, to represent users and bots during online interactions. In this study, participants (N = 255) evaluated a series of avatars in a static context in terms of their androgyny, anthropomorphism, credibility, homophily, attraction, and the likelihood they would choose them during an interaction. The responses to the images were consistent with what would be predicted by uncertainty reduction theory. The results show that the masculinity or femininity (lack of androgyny) of an avatar, as well as anthropomorphism, significantly influence perceptions of avatars. Further, more anthropomorphic avatars were perceived to be more attractive and credible, and people were more likely to choose to be represented by them. Participants reported masculine avatars as less attractive than feminine avatars, and most people reported a preference for human avatars that matched their gender. Practical and theoretical implications of these results for users, designers, and researchers of avatars are discussed.     

Humanoid Audio–Visual Avatar With Emotive Text-to-Speech Synthesis

Emotive audio–visual avatars are virtual computer agents which have the potential of improving the quality of human-machine interaction and human-human communication significantly. However, the understanding of human communication has not yet advanced to the point where it is possible to make realistic avatars that demonstrate interactions with natural- sounding emotive speech and realistic-looking emotional facial expressions. In this paper, We propose the various technical approaches of a novel multimodal framework leading to a text-driven emotive audio–visual avatar. Our primary work is focused on emotive speech synthesis, realistic emotional facial expression animation, and the co-articulation between speech gestures (i.e., lip movements) and facial expressions. A general framework of emotive text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis using a diphone synthesizer is designed and integrated into a generic 3-D avatar face model. Under the guidance of this framework, we therefore developed a realistic 3-D avatar prototype. A rule-based emotive TTS synthesis system module based on the Festival-MBROLA architecture has been designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework design. Subjective listening experiments were carried out to evaluate the expressiveness of the synthetic talking avatar.      

Social evaluations of embodied agents and avatars

The purpose of this study was to examine social evaluations (i.e., perceptions of empathy and positivity) following peoples’ interactions with digital human representations. Female research participants engaged in a 3-min interaction while immersed in a 3-D immersive virtual environment with a “peer counselor.” Participants were led to believe that the peer counselor was either an embodied agent (i.e., computer algorithm) or an avatar (i.e., another person). During the interaction, the peer counselor either smiled or not. As predicted, a digitally-rendered smile was found to affect participants’ social evaluations. However, these effects were moderated by participants’ beliefs about their interaction partner. Specifically, smiles enhanced social evaluations of embodied agents but degraded them for avatars. Although these results are consistent with other findings concerning the communicative realism of embodied agents and avatars they uniquely demonstrate that people’s beliefs alone, rather than actual differences in virtual representations, can impact social evaluations.     

Avatar economies: affective investment from game to platform

ABSTRACT

Video game avatars have been understood as a key site of players’ “affective investment” in play and games. In this article, we extend this conversation to explore the avatar’s role in engaging players with gaming platforms. Through a case study of Team Fortress 2 (Valve Software, 2007) and the Steam platform, we demonstrate the avatar’s function beyond gameworlds as a tool for encouraging certain kinds of play. Team Fortress 2, we argue, is a crucial testing ground for Valve’s experiments with gaming economies via the Steam platform. By extension, we show the importance of video game avatars for encouraging affective investment in platforms more broadly, including Microsoft’s Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and even workplace dashboards.     

Virtual shopping and unconscious persuasion: The priming effects of avatar age and consumers’ age discrimination on purchasing and prosocial behaviors

This study examined how operating elderly or young avatars affected shoppers’ product perceptions and purchasing behaviors. It also investigated how virtual shopping experiences translated into prosocial behavior regarding a nonprofit organization supporting the elderly. Operating elderly avatars influenced shoppers’ product choice and walking speed while shopping compared to operating younger avatars. In addition, operating elderly avatars positively affected participants’ attitudes and willingness to donate to and volunteer for a nonprofit organization supporting the elderly. Statistical interactions between avatar age and a shopper’s ageism on behavioral and persuasion outcomes were also confirmed, and these findings implied an assimilation/contrast effect influenced by a shopper’s preexisting prejudices toward the elderly.     

Avatars in social media: Balancing accuracy,playfulness and embodied messages

This paper examines how users negotiate their self-presentation via an avatar used in social media. Twenty participants customised an avatar while thinking aloud. An analysis of this verbal data revealed three motivating factors that drive self-presentation: (1) avatars were used to accurately reflect their owners’ offline self; participants chose to display stable self-attributes or idealised their avatar by concealing or emphasising attributes aligned to imagined social roles, (2) the diversity of customisation options was exploited by some participants who broke free from the social rules governing self-presentation offline; others used the avatar's appearance to emotionally provoke and engage the avatar viewer and finally, (3) avatars were used as proxies; participants designed their online self in order to convey a message to a significant other.     

I Am What I See: How Avatar and Opponent Agent Body Size Affects Physical Activity Among Men Playing Exergames

This study examined how avatar body size (normal, obese) and opponent character body size (normal, obese) influenced physical activity while male participants played an exergame. Males operating normal weight avatars showed more physical activity than those using obese avatars. Perceived avatar and opponent character body‐size differences moderated the effect of avatar appearance on physical activity. Participants showed decreased physical activity when the opponent character was perceived as slightly more obese than their avatar. Participants also showed decreased physical activity when their avatar was perceived as more obese than the opponent character. We discuss theoretical implications and applications of using virtual characters to increase gamers' physical activity. These findings are also compared to an earlier study with an all‐female sample.     

Design for conversation: lessons from Cognoter

When studying the use of Cognoter, a multi-user idea organizing tool, we noticed that users encountered unexpected communicative breakdowns. Many of these difficulties stemmed from an incorrect model of conversation implicit in the design of the software. Drawing on recent work in psychology and sociology, we were able to create a more realistic model of the situation our users faced and apply it to the system to understand the breakdowns. We discovered that users encountered difficulties coordinating their conversational actions. They also had difficulty determining that they were talking about the same objects and actions in the workspace. This work led to the redesign of the tool and to the identification of areas for further exploration.