Female Avatars Research Articles

Gender Swap in Virtual Reality for Supporting Inclusion and Implications in the Workplace

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS We explored the potential impacts of a virtual gender swap on perceptions toward sexual harassment, which is a harmful behavior that lacks respect and inclusivity. Given that perceptions of harassing behaviors can vary, and that gender may influence one’s interpretation of such behaviors, we implemented gender swap in virtual reality (VR) to examine changes in sensitivity to harassment across genders. Participants reported harassing behaviors as more inappropriate when embodying female avatars, regardless of their own gender. Our results suggest that gender swap in VR may raise awareness and narrow the gender gap in harassment perceptions, showing potential of VR-based interventions for immersive workplace training to effectively address biases and promote inclusivity among diversity, equity, and inclusion training. Our study also shows the potential of VR to simulate diverse scenarios and perspectives for tailored training experiences that cater to the specific needs and challenges of different occupational settings.

A Comparative Analysis of the Dimension of CLO 3D’s EU and US_ASTM Standard Female Avatars for Virtual Fitting and a Proposal of Avatars with KS Standards

A Comparative Analysis of the Dimension of CLO 3D’s EU and US_ASTM Standard Female Avatars for Virtual Fitting and a Proposal of Avatars with KS Standards

Effects of appearance and gender on pre-touch proxemics in virtual reality.

Virtual reality (VR) environments are increasingly popular for various applications, and the appearance of virtual characters is a critical factor that influences user behaviors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of avatar and agent appearances on pre-touch proxemics in VR. To achieve this goal, we designed experiments utilizing three user avatars (man/woman/robot) and three virtual agents (man/woman/robot). Specifically, we measured the pre-touch reaction distances to the face and body, which are the distances at which a person starts to feel uncomfortable before being touched. We examined how these distances varied based on the appearances of avatars, agents, and user gender. Our results revealed that the appearance of avatars and agents significantly impacted pre-touch reaction distances. Specifically, those using a female avatar tended to maintain larger distances before their face and body to be touched, and people also preferred greater distances before being touched by a robot agent. Interestingly, we observed no effects of user gender on pre-touch reaction distances. These findings have implications for the design and implementation of VR systems, as they suggest that avatar and agent appearances play a significant role in shaping users' perceptions of pre-touch proxemics. Our study highlights the importance of considering these factors when creating immersive and socially acceptable VR experiences.

Neural Correlates and Perceived Attractiveness of Male and Female Shoulder-to-Hip Ratio in Men and Women: An EEG Study.

While there are studies regarding the neural correlates of human facial attractiveness, there are few investigations considering neural responses for body form attractiveness. The most prominent physical feature defining men's attractiveness is their physical fitness and upper body strength. Shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR), a sexually dimorphic trait in humans, is an indicator of men's attractiveness for both men and women. The current study is the first to report on the neurophysiological responses to male and female body forms varying in SHR in healthy heterosexual men and women observers. Electroencephalographic (EEG) signals were acquired while participants completed an oddball task as well as a subsequent attractiveness judgement task. Behavioral results showed larger SHRs were considered more attractive than smaller SHRs, regardless of stimuli and participants' sex. The electrophysiological results for both the oddball task and the explicit judgement of attractiveness showed that brain activity related to male SHR body stimuli differed depending on the specific ratios, both at early and late processing stages. For female avatars, SHR did not modulate neural activity. Collectively the data implicate posterior brain regions in the perception of body forms that differ in attractiveness vis-a-vis variation of SHR, and frontal brain regions when such perceptions are rated explicitly.

On the Internet you can be anyone: An experiment on strategic avatar choice in online marketplaces

In order to decrease social distance and increase trust on their platforms, many online marketplaces allow traders to be represented by profile pictures or avatars. In a laboratory experiment, we investigate whether the presence of seller avatars affects trading behavior in a market. We contrast markets without avatars with markets where avatars genuinely represent traders and markets where avatars can be freely changed at any time and may thus be chosen strategically. At the aggregate level, we find that the presence of genuine avatars increases the trustworthiness of sellers, but that this effect is undone when avatars can be chosen strategically. We do not detect aggregate effects on buyers’ trusting choices. Female avatars are more trusted, and correspondingly in the treatment with free avatar choice men are more likely to represent themselves with a female avatar than vice versa.

Preferred distance from camera for online interactions and its relation with individual differences in pathogen sensitivity

Humans maintain distance from others in their interpersonal interactions and this has been documented in previous research in real-world scenarios. However, thanks to telecommunication technologies, humans are also interacting online with each other. While individuals are competent in adjusting their interpersonal distance based on their own preferences and others' considerations in a real-world situation, they might not be as competent in their online interactions. The aim of the current study is twofold: a) to investigate individuals’ preferred distance from a camera both for themselves and others while in an online interaction, and b) to test whether individual differences in pathogen sensitivity influence their preferred distances in an online interaction. Participants (N = 159) were asked to indicate their comfort distance from a camera for themselves and others while interacting in an online scenario. The distance from the camera varied systematically from 50 cm to 200 cm. Results showed that participants preferred to stand 80 cm–120 cm from a camera. As for the avatars that the participants viewed online, men and women preferred female avatars to stand between 80 cm and 130 cm from a camera, and male avatars to stand between 80 cm and 150 cm from a camera. And although the chances of contracting a disease online is zero, we found that germ aversion and concern about contracting COVID-19 were associated with the preferred distances from the camera. We attribute this result to a false positive error in social cognition.

How gender affects the decoding of facial expressions of pain.

Gender has been suggested to play a critical role in how facial expressions of pain are perceived by others. With the present study we aim to further investigate how gender might impact the decoding of facial expressions of pain, (i)by varying both the gender of the observer as well as the gender of the expressor and (ii) by considering two different aspects of the decoding process, namely intensity decoding and pain recognition. In two online-studies, videos of facial expressions of pain as well as of anger and disgust displayed by male and female avatars were presented to male and female participants. In the first study, valence and arousal ratings were assessed (intensity decoding) and in the second study, participants provided intensity ratings for different affective states, that allowed for assessing intensity decoding as well as pain recognition. The gender of the avatar significantly affected theintensity decoding of facial expressions of pain, with higher ratings (arousal, valence, pain intensity) for female compared to male avatars. In contrast, the gender of the observer had no significant impact on intensity decoding. With regard to pain recognition (differentiating pain from anger and disgust), neither the gender of the avatar, nor the gender of the observer had any affect. Only the gender of the expressor seems tohave a substantial impact on the decoding of facial expressions of pain, whereas the gender of the observer seems of less relevance. Reasons for the tendency to see more pain in female faces might be due to psychosocial factors (e.g., gender stereotypes) and require further research.

Avatar-based virtual reality and the associated gender stereotypes in a university environment

Abstract Avatar-based virtual reality (VR) is becoming more prevalent in industry and educational settings. There is, however, limited research on the extent to which gender stereotypes are present in this environment. The university laboratory study presented in this paper was conducted in a VR environment with participants who were randomly assigned to male or female avatars and instructed to negotiate the role of a manager or member of staff. The results reveal differences in satisfaction regarding their roles and gender. Participants who embodied a female avatar were less happy when they were subordinates interacting with a male avatar, compared to participants embodying a male avatar in the staff role (interacting with a female avatar). Male avatars with staff roles were also more content with their avatar than male avatars with manager roles and also reported being more comfortable in the VR experience. Relevant for diversity management when integrating VR in education and business, the results are discussed in regard to self-similarity and social identity dynamics and provide insight into understanding the extent to which gender stereotypes may be present in avatar-based VR.

What shapes a parasocial relationship in RVGs? The effects of avatar images, avatar identification, and romantic jealousy among potential, casual, and core players

Romantic video games (RVGs) are emerging games popular among female players, in which the players would form a parasocial relationship (PSR) with the male character they are dating with. Although many players have enjoyed the PSR in RVGs, what shapes PSR has not been fully understood. In this research, two studies on different players were conducted to investigate the effect of avatar image, avatar identification, and romantic jealousy on establishing PSR. In study 1, potential players who liked/disliked reading romantic novels were asked to play a romantic game. In Study 2, the core and casual players of an RVG viewed images of the male protagonist with or without the female avatar. The results showed that the players’ romantic jealousy negatively moderated or mediated the effect of their avatar identification on PSR. For casual players with low romantic jealousy, avatar images promoted identification and PSR; however, for core players and potential players favoring romantic novels, the positive effect of avatar images was no longer significant and even got reversed. These results revealed the unique roles of avatar identification, romantic jealousy, and avatar images in establishing PSR, and have practical implications for the RVGs design.

A comprehensive comparison of facial skin hydration based on capacitance and conductance measurements in Chinese women.

The aim of this study was to compare the data of conductance and capacitance measurements of facial skin hydration and to evaluate and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches. We measured skin capacitance (Corneometer® CM 825) and skin conductance (Skicon-200EX®) on 30 pre-defined facial sites of 125 Chinese women, resulting in 3750 readings per device. The data were analysed and compared, and continuous colour maps were generated on a 3D avatar for capacitance, conductance, relative difference (Δ%) and correlation (R-value) by interpolating between the individual readings and converting the values to colours. This visualization allows a better interpretation of the results. The complexity of facial skin hydration is revealed by this approach. The similarities and discrepancies in the facial hydration maps are clearly apparent. Due to the superiority of the Skicon in measuring high hydration levels, differences in skin hydration were evident on the forehead compared with the Corneometer maps, which may be related to the more superficial measurement of the Skicon within the stratum corneum. Conversely, a greater understanding of the complexity of facial skin hydration in the nasolabial fold was obvious when using the Corneometer. The best congruence between the instruments was found at two specific but separated facial areas, one around the inner eye region and the other one on a line between the nasolabial sulcus and the oblique, lateral jaw. Interestingly, the data were not normally distributed for both instruments and they had opposite skews. All facial clusters were statistically different from each other (p< 0.001), except the cheek and jaw for the Skicon. Larger than expected percentage coefficients of variance were found for the Corneometer on some facial sites that might be explainable by differences in stratum corneum physiology and biochemistry. Corneometer values of 48 AU and Skicon values of 132 μS were taken as the cutoff for normally hydrated facial skin. Both devices have their advantages and disadvantages suggesting that bio-instrumental measurement of skin hydration is actually more complicated than commonly thought and that the different facial zones and the use of multiple instrumentation have not been adequately considered.

Madeleine: Poetry and Art of an Artificial Intelligence

This article presents a project which is an experiment in the emerging field of human-machine artistic collaboration. The author/artist investigates responses by the generative pre-trained transformer (GPT-2) to poetic and esoteric prompts and curates them with elements of digital art created by the text-to-image transformer DALL-E 2 using those same prompts; these elements are presented in the context of photographs featuring an anthropomorphic female avatar as the messenger of the content. The tripartite ‘cyborg’ thus assembled is an artificial intelligence endowed with the human attributes of language, art and visage; it is referred to throughout as Madeleine. The results of the experiments allowed the investigation of the following hypotheses. Firstly, evidence for a convergence of machine and human creativity and intelligence is provided by moderate degrees of lossy compression, error, ignorance and the lateral formulation of analogies more typical of GPT-2 than GPT-3. Secondly, the work provides new illustrations supporting research in the field of artificial intelligence that queries the definitions and boundaries of accepted categories such as cognition, intelligence, understanding and—at the limit—consciousness, suggesting that there is a paradigm shift away from questions such as “Can machines think?” to those of immediate social and political relevance such as “How can you tell a machine from a human being?” and “Can we trust machines?” Finally, appearance and epistemic emotions: surprise, curiosity and confusion are influential in the human acceptance of machines as intelligent and trustworthy entities. The project problematises the contemporary proliferation of feminised avatars in the context of feminist critical literature and suggests that the anthropomorphic avatar might echo the social and historical position of the Delphic oracle: the Pythia, rather than a disembodied search engine such as Alexa.

Are female skins sold at a lower price? Evidence from the Fortnite game

ABSTRACT Much significant research has been done to shed light on discrimination of females in, for example, labour markets. Less is known, in contrast, about the amount of discrimination in the virtual world of online gaming. In an early study, Castronova (2004), using data for the EverQuest game, finds that female avatars receive about 10% lower prices in online auctions. In this research note, we re-examine the pricing of avatars using data for the Fortnite game and find small and statistically insignificant price difference between female and male avatars.

Domestic Violence From a Child Perspective: Impact of an Immersive Virtual Reality Experience on Men With a History of Intimate Partner Violent Behavior.

Domestic violence has long-term negative consequences on children. In this study, men with a history of partner aggression and a control group of non-offenders were embodied in a child's body from a first-person perspective in virtual reality (VR). From this perspective, participants witnessed a scene of domestic violence where a male avatar assaulted a female avatar. We evaluated the impact of the experience on emotion recognition skills and heart rate deceleration responses. We found that the experience mainly impacted the recognition of angry facial expressions. The results also indicate that males with a history of partner aggression had larger physiological responses during an explicit violent event (when the virtual abuser threw a telephone) compared with controls, while their physiological reactions were less pronounced when the virtual abuser invaded the victim's personal space. We show that embodiment from a child's perspective during a conflict situation in VR impacts emotion recognition, physiological reactions, and attitudes towards violence. We provide initial evidence of the potential of VR in the rehabilitation and neuropsychological assessment of males with a history of domestic violence, especially in relation to children.

Why Do Women Pretend to Be Men? Female Gender Swapping in Online Games.

This research explored the influencing factors of gender swapping among female players in online games and their impact on online gaming behavior. Based on an online survey of 3,658 female players in China, we found that perceived benefits and the Tanbi tendency, a psychological indulgence in enjoying novels, comics, or series on love and sex between attractive males, were the most important factors for female players to employ male avatars. Sexual orientation, perceived anonymity, and perceived tolerance also had a significant influence on gender swapping. Different from the practical benefits perceived by men who use female avatars in online games, the perceived benefit for female players who use male avatars was to avoid gender discrimination. In order to obtain more freedom and fairer treatment, they chose male avatars for a better experience. Female players with a higher degree of gender swapping showed a stronger aggressiveness and dominant “hyper-masculinity” behavior tendency in the game. Though online virtual worlds may be a convenient place for females to experience gender equality through gender swapping, the findings of this study suggest that gender swapping in games may, to some extent, perpetuate or even reinforce gender stereotypes in the real world.

Computer role-playing games: player motivations, preferences, and behavior

"In recent years, computer role-playing games have changed the way we spend our free time. Traditional games have been increasingly replaced by digitized productions, and technology has made it easier to access videogames on multiples devices. Online games bring users together in a fantasy world in which they design avatars, manifesting their creativity and employing gaming strategies. This study analyzed Romanian gamers’ behaviors and perceptions of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (henceforth MMORPGs); by employing focus groups and a survey, the authors aimed to map preferences and habits of users in terms of gender. We found that users are not likely to engage in stereotypical activities in creating and using their avatars within the games, nor do they design female avatars solely for visual pleasure, but rather for opportunistic reasons. Moreover, the research subjects did not think of choosing female avatars as a safeguard for advancing through in-game levels, but rather consider other variables, such as hard work, skills, or strategy, as important to succeed. Keywords: role-playing games, gaming behavior, gamer preferences, gender-swapping, avatar gender."

Digital game adaptations to attract more girls to play

Until the early years of the 21st century, games were seen as activities for male teenagers and adults. Gradually, women are gaining representation in the universe of games, but they still encounter difficulties, face judgments, prejudice, and often feel discouraged to play. Games can encourage girls to see technology positively, which can motivate career choice in computing. As the number of female professionals in computing careers is still small, characterizing what girls like or dislike in games can contribute to the increase in that number. Thus, this work aims to propose adaptations for digital games, to attract more girls to play them. To reach this objective, we conducted interviews with girls, to collect information about what they like or dislike in games, and later a triangulation was performed for validation, which used information extracted from a questionnaire. The analysis of the interviews shows that aspects suchas game graphics, the possibility of playing in a group, the reality of the game, and freedom to choose avatars and paths the game will follow are characteristics significantly valued by the participants, regardless of whether they already play games or not. Based on the analysis, this work generated suggestions for better matching games for girls contributing to reducing the gap between men and women in computing careers. Some of the main suggestions address the need to pay attention to how the game will work the interaction between players; the need to provide the gamer constant feedback and rating features suchas ranking, promoting competition, and the insertion of female avatars within the games that are representative and that have physical variations in the characters, in addition to representing women as champions and not just as support for other players.

Effect of body-gender transfer in virtual reality on the perception of sexual harassment

While sexual harassments are inappropriate behaviors in the society, the interpretation of and sensitivity toward sexual harassment can vary by individual. Differences across individuals, such as gender, may influence whether one interprets an action to be sexually harassing or not. Virtual reality technology enables human behavior assessment without interfacing with physical danger. The present work examined whether gender and body-gender transfer in VR influenced the perception of sexually harassing behaviors, and explored the utility of emerging technology in increasing one’s awareness of behaviors that may be considered sexually harassing. Participants (n=12) embodied in virtual characters of different genders and experienced seven sexually harassing scenarios in an immersive virtual environment in random order. In general, participants provided higher rating to the sensitivity toward sexual harassment in the VR harassment scenarios than those scenarios described on paper. There was an increase in participants’ sensitivity toward sexual harassment after experiencing sexual harassment scenarios from the perspective of the victim in VR. Participants perceived higher level of sexual harassment when they embodied in female avatars, which suggested there was an effect of VR with body-gender transfer on perception of sexual harassment. There were gender differences in awareness of harassing behaviors in VR environment, and VR may be a training method to narrow gender gap and increase awareness toward sexual harassment.

Humans adjust virtual comfort-distance towards an artificial agent depending on their sexual orientation and implicit prejudice against gay men

The interpersonal distance kept by each individual plays a prominent role in daily social interactions and typically communicates implicitly human attitudes toward conspecifics. While it is held that men dyads keep a larger distance than women, information about whether such sex-related distance is moderated by sexual orientation and implicit/explicit sexual prejudice is scarce. To explore this issue, Heterosexual and Non-Heterosexual Men and Women (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual) were immersed in virtual reality and asked to provide comfort-distance judgements in relation to approaching male or female avatars. Results showed that same-sex comfort-distance was smaller for Non-Heterosexual compared to Heterosexual participants. Moreover, the larger distance toward the male avatar kept by Heterosexual Men was associated with the implicit prejudice toward gay men. Our results indicate that comfort-distance demarcation is modulated by sexual orientation and that implicit sexual prejudice leads to increased interpersonal comfort-distance, a possible proxy to avoidant behaviors. Our approach suggests that immersive virtual reality may allow to overcome limitations typical of studies with real participants and provide a unique opportunity to explore the physiological and neural underpinnings of sexuality-related variables that regulate interpersonal distance.

Wearing same- and opposite-sex virtual bodies and seeing them caressed in intimate areas.

Immersive virtual reality enables people to undergo the experience of owning an artificial body and vicariously feeling tactile stimuli delivered to it. However, it is currently unknown how such experiences are modified by the sexual congruency between the human and the artificial agent. In two studies, heterosexual men (Experiment 1) and women (Experiment 2) embodied same-sex and opposite-sex avatars and were asked to evaluate the experience (e.g., pleasantness, erogeneity) of being touched on social or intimate areas of their virtual body by a male or female avatar. Electrocardiogram and galvanic skin response were also recorded. Moreover, participants' implicit and explicit gender biases were examined via a gender-potency implicit association test and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. When embodying a same-sex avatar, men and women rated caresses on intimate areas from an avatar of the opposite sex as more pleasant and erogenous. Conversely, body swap-that is, wearing an opposite-sex avatar-enhanced participants' perceptions of pleasantness and erogeneity for caresses on intimate areas from a same-sex toucher. This effect was stronger in men than in women. Furthermore, physiological correlates of enhanced processing of arousing stimuli predicted behavioural outcomes during the body swap illusion. Wearing an opposite-sex avatar affects one's own body representations and may have important implications on people's attitudes and implicit reactivity to touch-mediated interactions. Men seem more susceptible to this type of body swap illusion. Our paradigm may induce profound changes of cross-sex perspective-taking and provide novel tools for promoting empathy and comprehension of sex-related diversity.

The Effects of Sex-Type, the Sex of the Avatar, and Salience of the Sex of the Avatar on Emotional Valence and Arousal.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of avatar sex, salience of avatar sex, and player sex-type on less conscious embodied emotional arousal and valence vs. consciously perceived emotional arousal and valence elicited by a gaming experience. The experiment conducted a 2 avatar sex (female × male) × 2 salience of avatar sex (high × low) × 2 player sex-type (sex-typed × non-sex-typed) mixed model factorial design. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two gameplay conditions (high-salience male and female avatar or low-salience male and female avatar) and then played two 15-min sessions of a video game—one session playing the game as a male avatar and one session playing the game as a female avatar. The order in which participants played as either a male or female avatar was randomized. Psychophysiological indicators of arousal (skin conductance) and valence (facial electromyography) were recorded during gameplay. Self-report measures of arousal and valence were obtained immediately after each 15-min session of gameplay. Data analysis tested hypotheses concerning the effects of avatar sex, salience of avatar sex, and player sex-type separately on real-time embodied variation in arousal and valence as revealed through physiological indicators and conscious perception of arousal and valence obtained through self-report measures.