Sealund’s Serious Games Blog

Effectiveness of Avatars You Can Identify With

Studies conducted on avatars for educational purposes showed that avatar usage in game-based learning increase learners’ motivation and level of engagement. Yavuz Inal reported that “Avatars are gaining more importance where interactivity, learner engagement, cultural factors, communication, embodiment and motivation are important design considerations especially when web-based environments, and 3D virtual environments are considered.” Avatars are even more important in multi-player virtual learning environments (VLEs) because of “the multi user virtual environments having crucial advantages and functions, which are 1) perception, 2) localization, 3) identification, 4) visualization of others’ interest focus, 5) visualization of other’s actions, 6) social representation of self through decoration of the avatar.” Therefore, “Avatar preference gains more significance so that the most appropriate avatars should be designed for students” One study cited found that learners’ selection of avatar characteristics focused on popular culture elements, personal appearance elements significant to the learner’s identity.

So, do more relatable avatars actually affect learning and, more important, performance based on the learning?

One eLearning Guild online forum, “Using Avatars to Enhance Learning Comprehension,” observed that “Studies show that the addition of a virtual character (an Avatar) to Web-based courses impacts knowledge retention, course completion, and recall of content. By interacting with a character in a virtual world, students become more engaged in the subject matter, helping them learn more effectively.”

Psychological Processes in Choosing Avatars

A study by the International Communication Association titled “Creating Virtual Alter Egos? Psychological Processes Underlying the Choice of Avatar Features in Computer Games” notedb that “Social Identity Theory (SIT) (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) suggests that users create an avatar that is similar to themselves to allow for processes of social identity such as social comparison. Opposed to that, preceding qualitative interviews showed that women choose avatars according to game requirements.” Whatever the outcome of that debate may be, it seems that learners want to win the learning games they play, and they’ll be the most highly engaged by using an avatar with whom they can closely identify.

You can put two and two together from all these observations and conclude that the more flexibility learners have in selecting (or designing) avatars they can identify with as closely as possible, the more personal their learning experience will be, and the more robust their retention will become.

What has your experience been in using avatars yourself? What have you observed about avatar selection and design, and then about learner engagement and retention, with your organization’s learning games?

What do you think? Please share your comments.