SGER: The Avatar-Self Relationship: An Exploratory Study of Identity Negotiation in Second Life

这项研究解决了计算机生成的虚拟世界中的化身的中心问题：用户如何在自我和化身之间的许多可能的关系进行协商？ 虚拟世界是3D网络的一个组成部分，因此在我们以计算机为媒介的通信基础设施的发展中发挥着越来越重要的作用。化身是3D网络应用程序（包括电子邮件、聊天和虚拟世界）中通信者的代表，是这些新媒体的基石。化身的一个关键启示是体现，它不仅使沟通者在各种情况和遭遇中可见，而且还允许他们参与身体的实践，如走路，坐着或打手势。因此，化身作为一个提示通信者的身份，并作为一个强大的视觉补充，更多的文本为基础的媒体，如即时消息和电子邮件。然而，与交流者的真实身体发出的非语言暗示不同，虚拟身体的暗示可以被其主人有意地操纵和控制。 此外，化身不仅与通信的预期目标交互，而且与所有者他/她自己交互。 化身-自我关系的这种复杂性提出了一个问题，即在教育、商业和组织环境中，为了有效的沟通，应该调用什么类型的关系，在这些环境中，所有者--而不是化身--通常是沟通行动的目标。本研究探讨了虚拟世界中化身与自我关系的类型，以及不同关系变得突出的条件和原因。这项研究以最大的虚拟世界之一“第二人生”的居民为样本，将依靠现实世界的面对面访谈以及照片日记访谈方法收集数据。化身-自我关系的类别和理解框架，当它们变得突出，为什么将使用解释性技术和新兴的理论建设方法，这是由欧文戈夫曼的身份谈判的戏剧理论通知开发。 这种广泛的理论方法被广泛用于研究化身和其他形式的自我展示，但在这个项目中采用的研究方法是创新的，使这个项目有可能为许多新假设和理论进步的发展做出重大贡献。随着合成世界和虚拟化身在3D Web应用程序中变得越来越普遍，我们需要开发框架和语言来描述和理解在线和离线自我日益交织的本质。这项关于化身-自我关系的研究可能会对我们理解传播者对日益模糊的离线-在线和现实-虚拟边界的谈判产生变革性的影响。

This research addresses the central question with respect to avatars in computer-generated virtual worlds: How does the user negotiate among the many possible relationships between the self and the avatar? Virtual worlds form an integral part of the 3D web and as such play an increasingly important role in the evolution of our computer-mediated communication infrastructure. Avatars, which are the representation of the communicator in 3D web applications including email, chat and virtual worlds, are a cornerstone of these new media. A key affordance of avatars is embodiment, which not only gives communicators visible presence in situations and encounters, but also allows them to engage in practices of the body such as walking, sitting or gesturing. As such, the avatar serves as a cue for the communicator's identity and as a powerful visual complement to the more text-based media like instant messaging and email. However, unlike the non-verbal cues that a communicator's real-world body gives off, the cues of the virtual body can be intentionally manipulated and controlled by its owner. Furthermore, the avatar does not only interact with the intended target of the communication, but with the owner him/herself. This complexity of the avatar-self relationship raises questions about what type of relationship to invoke for effective communication in educational, commercial and organizational settings, where the owner - not the avatar - is typically the target of communicative action. This study explores the types of avatar-self relationships that are enacted in virtual worlds, and the conditions under which different relationships become salient and why. Drawing on a sample of residents of Second Life, one of the largest virtual worlds, this research will rely on real-world, face-to-face interviews, as well as a photo-diary interview method for data collection. Categories of avatar-self relationships and a framework for understanding when they become salient and why will be developed using interpretive techniques and an emergent theory building approach that is informed by Erving Goffman's dramaturgical theory of identity negotiation. This broad theoretical approach is widely used in research on avatars and other forms of self-presentation, but the research methods to be employed in this project are innovative, giving this project the potential of contributing significantly to the development of a host of new hypotheses and theoretical advancements. As synthetic worlds and avatars are likely to become more prevalent in 3D web applications, we need to develop frameworks and language to describe and make sense of the increasingly intertwined nature of online and offline selves. This research on the avatar-self relationship makes potentially transformative inroads into our understanding of communicators' negotiation of the increasingly blurred offline-online and reality-virtuality boundaries.