Wearing Many Avatars: How Users Express, Shift and Perceive Identity Across Contexts in Social VR

Paper Title

Wearing Many Avatars: How Users Express, Shift and Perceive Identity Across Contexts in Social VR

Publication Info

• Topic area: Identity expression and management in Social Virtual Reality (VR)
• Keywords: Social VR, avatars, identity expression, identity management, avatar switching, virtual embodiment, immersive media, digital identity, customisation, inclusion

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Existing Social VR platforms assume stable user identities embodied in avatars, lacking support for cross-contextual avatar switching and dynamic identity management. Prior research has not adequately explored how users perceive and express identity through avatars across different Social VR contexts.
• Significance: Understanding identity practices in Social VR is crucial for designing platforms that support diverse, inclusive, and context-sensitive identity expression while addressing challenges like privacy management and context collapse.
• Motivation and related work: Previous studies have examined avatar customisation in non-immersive media and Social VR, focusing on self-presentation, body ownership, and trust. However, gaps remain in understanding which real-world identity aspects shape avatar customisation, how context influences these choices, and how avatar switching affects identity perception.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A questionnaire-based study with 100 participants to investigate identity expression, context-dependent avatar customisation, and avatar switching in Social VR.
• Novelty:
  1. Extending Goffman’s dramaturgical theory to embodied digital identity in Social VR.
  2. Conceptualising avatar switching as contextual identity regulation rather than tool management.
  3. Identifying design improvements for Social VR platforms to support diverse identity expression and social inclusion.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Survey instrument measuring identity expression, context-dependent priorities, and avatar switching triggers.
  • Recruitment from Social VR communities and forums targeting experienced users.
  • Quantitative analysis using Likert scales, rank-ordering tasks, and non-parametric tests.
  • Thematic analysis of qualitative responses to identify patterns in identity practices.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Users prioritise aspects of self (77%), aesthetic preferences (44%), and personal aims (18%) in avatar customisation.
  • Age, aesthetics, and cultural heritage are consistently prioritised across contexts, while education and religion gain importance in formal settings, and hobbies and gender are more relevant in informal scenarios.
  • Users prefer idealised avatars over realistic ones (68% vs. 54% agreement).
  • Avatar switching is driven by contextual adaptation (47%), mood changes (13%), novelty-seeking (12%), and privacy concerns (5%).
  • Most users perceive their core identity as stable despite avatar switching (64%), though 51% acknowledge symbolic identity changes.
  • VR experience influences identity perception, with users active for 2–3 years reporting heightened awareness of identity shifts.
• Advantage over baselines: Provides detailed insights into how Social VR users dynamically manage identity through avatars, addressing gaps in prior research on static identity assumptions and limited platform support for cross-contextual customisation.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Participants ranked identity aspects across six Social VR scenarios (e.g., work, gaming).
  • Likert-scale responses and thematic coding revealed preferences, challenges, and strategies for avatar customisation and switching.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited diversity in the sample (e.g., age, geographic representation).
  • Exclusion of newer users and reliance on self-reported data.
  • Lack of real-time observation of avatar behaviour in VR.
  • Future research should include lab experiments, regional comparisons, and platform designer perspectives.

Summary

This study explores how users express and manage identity through avatars in Social VR, revealing that real-world aspects like self, aesthetics, and personal goals influence avatar customisation. Users actively switch avatars across contexts to adapt to situational demands, express different facets of identity, and manage privacy, while maintaining a stable core identity. Findings extend Goffman’s dramaturgical theory to immersive media and highlight the need for inclusive, adaptable Social VR platforms. Future research should validate these insights through controlled VR experiments and examine long-term impacts of Social VR engagement on identity practices.