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UEC Int’l Mini-Conference No.53 79

The Influence of Virtual Non-creature Human-Like Avatars on the

User

Luca Malte BARRE , Koichi HIROTA, Sho SAKURAI
∗
Department of Informatics
Hirota Lab
The University of Electro-Communications
Tokyo, Japan

Keywords: Virtual Reality (VR), Embodiment, Virtual Avatars, Proteus Effect, Human-Like,
Human-Computer-Interaction

Abstract

In Virtual Reality (VR) users can embody a virtual avatar to explore and interact with the virtual
environment. The type of virtual avatar and its properties are a key point to the user experience,
as they are the users’ representation in the virtual world. In popular VR applications, the most
commonly used type is the human-like avatar. Previous research on embodying avatars has shown
that especially human-like avatars can influence the users’ behavior. Attractive avatars can increase
the intention to engage in social activities. This phenomena is known as the Proteus Effect. There
are also avatars that represent a human to certain degree but do not resemble a living creature. Yet,
it remains unclear whether this specific type of avatars can also cause the Proteus Effect. In this
study, we are investigating this matter more by letting users participate in a virtual version of the
party game Twister as non-creature human-like avatars.

∗
The author is supported by (MICH) MEXT Scholar-
ship.