Your2ndPlace

A study by researchers at the University of Nebraska, Deception in cyberspace: A comparison of text-only vs. avatar-supported medium, says that people may be more comfortable with deceit as avatars instead of text-only chat.

From the abstract:

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.

Personal Opinion

I honestly don't know what to make of this and don't see why I should pay $30 to join the site to read about it, but this is likely to become one of the foundation papers of reference related to virtual worlds. My experience has varied. I've found avatars that have tried to look trustworthy are not so, that the guy in the suit may be an attendant at a gas station, that that hot babe at the topless bar whispering lewd comments may really be a man, and that Prokofy Neva is really a woman who allegedly is much nicer in person than at the keyboard.

As in the real world, appearances can be deceptive. If I judge someone, I judge by what they do - not how they appear - and most of the people I associate with are the same way. If anything, an avatar can be a window to a soul which you may have not otherwise entered... and while casual distrust is natural, I worry about quantifying distrust when time and energy could be spent on other things.

Just my personal opinion, your mileage may vary. What do you think?

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