It isn’t easy being green
This is what I look like in Second Life:
I spent a fair amount of time to make it look like me, but for some reason the skin and hair didn’t come out quite right. At this point however, the green skin and pointy hair is what I identify with, and what I try to look like in other virtual worlds.
Unfortunately, most platforms out there are pretty constrained in avatar skin colors:
Even in the “cartoony” environment of Lively, this was the closest I could get to what I wanted:
Of course, other environments have even more constraints. In Disney’s Pixie Hollow, I’m forced to look like this:
(see how I matched my top with my hair and eye color? For some reason I don’t spend a lot of time in Pixie Hollow. It is not quite yet enterprise ready.)
Actually, most business oriented virtual worlds seem to make a point of limiting avatar looks. I remember one vendor proudly showing me how they only allowed “business appropriate” avatars – which meant you had a choice of 4 looks, all wearing identical suits. Arn Hyndman, talking about Nortel’s Web.Alive seems to have a similar point of view: “We’re trying to take this in a much more serious direction so our avatars look like people and are somewhat constrained to look like people as opposed to the Second Life model.”
Of course, there are looks that would be inappropriate in a business setting (and looks that are always inappropriate), but I think there are problems with limiting avatar looks too much. Drastic skin colors and weird shapes makes an avatar recognizable from a distance. If you are limited to “look like people”, then the differences tend to be more subtle, and less visible unless you zoom in.
I think this lack of customization and differentiation can also make it difficult for people to identify with their avatars. And for many, looking like people is just boring and is not how they want to present themselves. Adri Saarinen of Metaversatility, normally has a human-feline avatar, and reacted quite viscerally when asked to look more human:
Avatar identity is a big topic, and I think successful virtual world applications will be the ones that allow more flexibility and expect more tolerance of non-”normal” appearances. Even though on the internet nobody knows if you’re a dog, people may still want to look like a cat, or like someone with green skin and really bad hair.
Update: Annie Ok reminded me that my compatriots in the PlayOn group at PARC have investigated avatar customization in-depth. They note that depending on the environment, users spend widely different amounts of time customizing their avatar. Second Life users spend the most time on their avatars – “…, one could even argue that avatar customization is the game in SL.” This may also explain why some of us get so invested in our avatar appearance.
You have to wonder if places that want avatars to look “more like people” are simply afraid that creativity is unprofessional.
There are arguments to be made for putting down limits but on the Internet, especially in realms as new and dynamic as virtual worlds, I’m suspicious of artificial constraints.
I think one has to differentiate among products when you discuss this issue. There are products like Second Life that are largely driven by user created content. There are products that center on brands and brand enhancement. And then there are newer platforms provide certain assets but hold the promise of more.
The photo of the GoWeb3D / VRWorkplace / Trimensions environment above shows two default ‘newbie’ avatars (in jeans and black shirts) and a more customized one with blond hair and a suit. The platform, 3Dxplorer, offers a configurator with male and female avatars and White, Black, and Asian iterations of each along with a variety of hair colors, clothing choices etc. Additional options including non-human ones can be added in, but are not part of the standard configurator. This does not imply that the makers of 3Dxplorer object to non-human avatars, but that you have to start somewhere.
In general, I agree that customizing avatars is important and as GoWeb3D develops its offerings, a more robust customization functionality is planned.
Dave – excellent point that for many of the emerging platforms, limited avatar customization is a result of feature prioritization, rather than the “humans-only” policy I mention.
It would be interesting to test whether allowing greater avatar customization earlier, before other types of user content, would impact adoption rate. As an example. the invention of prim hair in Second Life seems to have had quite an impact and spawned an entire industry.
Yes actually I imagine that hitting the right “button” could have an impact on adoption. Very interesting subject matter, Jonas. Thanks for the entry.
[...] It isn’t easy being green – avatar customization & differentiation in virtual worlds (Thanks for the shoutout, Jonas!) [...]
I do agree there is something odd about green and not being “allowed” it
In both home http://epredator.blogspot.com/2008/12/ps3-home-i-want-green-hair.html and xbox live http://epredator.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-epredator-xbox-avatar.html it is tricky to get the creativity you want and that is on a games console, designed for games and gamers! I guess we can forgive the business element for assuming that avatar personalization is really not serious enough. However I maintain it says more about the person you are, and help emote that to people. They know a bit more about your temprament than a stock photo in a work database. That is good
@epredator of course, games and console environments that target or allow kids have their own constraints regarding “appropriate” content. Limiting avatar customizability might be the safest choice. I remember that it didn’t take long after Spore Creature Creator was released that, er, interesting creations were being shared all over the net…
[...] a nice discussion of the importance of your choice of avatar, which ties in neatly with my first It isn’t easy being green post. Having thus completed the loop, I promise never to use this title for a blog post [...]
and what can you do for those of us who are lazy about our avatar looks? I have had offers for skin, shapes, hair, clothing because mine is rather dull. perhaps all he needs is a tail.