Review of "Identity in Metaverse" survey with my answers
Here I review a report of qualitative survey named "Identity in Metaverse" conducted by Virtual Girl Nem and Liudmila Bredikhina since June 24 until July 12, 2024. I answered this survey too.
In addition to the review, I show a part of my answer at the end of the article. Purpose is to verbalize an ambiguity in motivations of avatar design, particularly so called "personal preference" in this report and public remarks.
I referred a report published at 13:00 (JST) at Nov. 25, 2024.
Survey portal:
My original review in Japanese:
Overview
This survey is a supplement for "Social VR Lifestyle Survey" conducted in 2021 and 2023. Since the previous two surveys were quantitative ones, they got request from readers for a survey of respondents' concrete thoughts behind the calculated percentages. In this overview, I mainly focus on time development from 2023.
Qualitative results
I felt the results of free-text questions had no novelty. In other word, there were no surprising results to exceed my expectations or descriptions in "Metaverse Evolution Theory". Of course it is an impression by only typical samples of answers so that individual answers may contain interesting descriptions. However, it is obvious that most answers were summarized to be popularly-stated reasons like "Bishojo avatars make it easier to communicate", "personal preference", or "Feminine clothes have wider variations". In particular, "personal preference" appears in almost all questions, and I wish its detailed meanings would be analyzed much deeper. I say, even "personal" can be misleading because preference has both aspects of personal and socially-constructed.
Getting expected results implies that the sample group is not seriously apart from the social VR users previously assumed. However, it does not mean all the previous surveys were unbiased. Furthermore, I note that participant's vocabularlies and thoughts to express their motivations of avatar design and identities can be biased by discourses told in public. For example, it is hard to tell whether an answer like "Bishojo avatar makes communication easier" is participant's true thought or an internalized vogue phrase from Twitter. A participant who is interested in identity in metaverse is especially likely to be familiar with external discussions of this topic.
I think this is a principal constraint on qualitative survey so that I don't have any suggestion to "correct" it. A good analyst may be able to extract non-trivial insights out of the answers that were socially constructed in some aspects. Note that the analyst's perspective must be biased as well as participants. It might be valuable if we can clearly proof that the statements are socially constructed. Another positive value of this result is that it could surprise people who are not familiar with avatar communications and Japanese anime-like expressions, even if it just repeats the same statements as previous years.
It can be pointed out that the categorizing of the samples of answer (e.g. "To enhance immersion" or "Because of avatar's familiarity" as reasons of choosing humanoid avatars) are not sufficiently independent each other. I mean several reasons say the same things in different words, or some reasons can literally include other reasons. This may be because participants don't verbalize their motivations in sufficient resolution, and analysts don't fully extract cores hidden in such samples. However, analysts should avoid concluding anything not written in the samples. So it is rational to keep some ambiguity in this report and expect deeper discussion would be done by other people. I wish all the samples were opened in public.
In this article, I define words to point each part in result pages of qualitative questions as the figure below.
Quantitative results
First, decreasing use of feminine avatars and the majorities who don't hide their VR identity to the real families or friends imply the decay of "Metaverse Dream". I mean less people feel excited to separate the virtual world from the real world and express their deep desire on the avatars. I pointed out the same trend to the report of the survey in 2023.
Second, I felt the results of North America and Europe clearly reflected the recent cultural trend in these area. Increasing "Others" in North America and Europe may indicate many newcomers from X gender, gender fluid, and questioning people, or many veteran users starting to identify themselves as these minorities. On the other hand, some users may switched to non-human or furry avatars to avoid criticisms that the use of feminine avatars strengthens gender stereotypes. There also might be under-19 users who uses robot avatars like in FPS games and result to decreasing use of the feminine avatars. Besides, the results of avatars' age implies the fear to use child-like avatars. If their society tends to authorize fluctuation of identity and regard bishojo as a symbol of female (not like Japan), the results above can be explained.
In Japan, increasing the business use of Cluster may affect to the results. These people may not hide their VR identity in the real world and expected to choose avatars looks close to their real age. I hope I could see results of "OInly Japanese VRChat users" for all questions.
Chapter title page
Of course we should not judge others by their attribute, but it really encourages me that Mila chose Moe, regarded as one of the most sexy avatars in Japan, in spite of her being white female researchers of gender theories.
Comments to each page
Comparison of percentages shown by rightarrow (->) is with 2023. Resonite was compared with NeosVR in 2023.
p.5 1,012 answers
Ratio of area did not change compared with 2023, except for slight increase of North America. Most participants in this survey may be who responded in 2023. It means we have not prospected the new participants but a path to survey foreign users has been established.
pp.11 Frequently used social VR
Unchanged fraction of Cluster in Japan (7% -> 7%) may indicate that it is not just a temporary fad or a sightseeing but continuous use with some purposes. Increase of Resonite (4% -> 7%) is from both an enthusiastic campaign by immigrants from NeosVR and development of tools making it easy to bring VRChat avatar into Resonite. But it is not clear why Resonite increased rapidly (1% -> 12%) in Asia except for Japan.
p.12 Physical sex
In North America and Europe, remarkable fraction of physical male moved to "Others" while the ratio of physical female did not change. One possibility is that these males started to suspect their own cis-gender identity through using bishojo avatarts in social VRs. It does not likely occur in Japan because identifying themselves as heterosexual cis-male and behaving as bishojo usually don't conflict in Japanese culture.
p.13 Age
Increase of 19-year-old and under in North America and Europe (NA 5% -> 12%, EUR 2% -> 14%) might be due to young Meta Quest 2 users growing up to answer to such a survey. In contrast, aging of Virtual Cast users is obvious…
pp.17-18 Avatar species
Considering the increase of "Other" sex of avatars' appearance, the increase of semi-humanoid in North America and Europe may contain many furries close to beastmen. I can't tell the reason of the slight increase of humanoid robot or cyborg in Resonite users in Asia except for Japan.
p.19 Why "Humanoid"?
Samples shown in a category of "Because of avatar familiarity" should belong to "To get closer to my physical appearance (to enhance immersion, etc.)". If they intend to distinguish "avatar familiarity" from immersion, being human, and personal preference, it should mean familiarity sensed by other people.
I think the reasons like "To be human" and "Liked the look" can be verbalized more in detail. For example, "To be human" could have a large overwrap with "To enhance immersion" or "Get familiarity sensed by others". However, it is too arbitrary if we categorize a sample just saying "I can only feel comfortable being human" to either of these reasons. It is reasonable to categorize in the current way and try a further discussion later.
p.20 Why "Semi-Humanoid"?
Reasonable result, but the sample saying "Because it matches my preference" should be in the category of "Liked the look".
I would like to know why the participants stated "Furry fandom" got related to the furry fandoms. There may be totally different motivations between Japan and US/Euros.
p.21 Why "Humanoid Robot or Cyborg"?
The statement that the robots are neutral may mean they don't have atmosphere of daily life and sexuality. For a purpose of eliminating such an atmosphere and graphicness, even a cartoon-like avatar (e.g. Mamehinata) doesn't suit so that robot avatars are chosen. However, it is notable that the same participant mentions to familiarity of a small robot. It might imply the participant's conflicted situation of how apparently she/he/they should appeal to others' feelings by appearance of avatar.
p.22 Why "Animal"?
Not a surprising result.
p.23 Why "Monster"?
Not a surprising result.
By the way, to which avatar species Fishheads belong? Most of them are based on non-fantasy fishes and have a form of humanoid, but the combination of their head and body is obviously a monter, with too fleshly look to belong to "The others". If a vegetable with arms and legs can belong to "Plant", Fishheads could be "Animal", but it is not intuitive for me. I welcome the diversity of avatars that delivers such a dis-classified group.
What's Fishhead? (Japanese article by me)
pp.24-25 Physical sex and avatar appearance
I guess "-25%" in Feminine avatars in Europe should be -14% or -15%, but anyway it is a significant decrease. The decreased portion seem to move to both Masculine and Other. I think this portion includes who were afraid of a moral problem in using avatars of the opposite sex, who found their favorite avatar due to expansion of the market for masculine avatars, and who don't want to use a masculine avatar but still hesitate to use a feminine avatar.
It was surprising for me that the fraction of Feminine avatar in Cluster did not change since 2023. On the other hand, the move from Masculine to Other could be a robot avatar used by newcomers.
Another interesting result is that Feminine avatar increased only in Asia except for Japan. I guess the reason is years-scale delay of cultural trends propagating from Japan of North America to there. For example, I heard about Taiwan that Facebook and BBS are more popluar than Twitter as media for communication and announcement in the Internet. It may constrain spread of cultural discussions.
p.26 Why males use "Feminine Avatar"?
Result repeating the statements usually told.
p.27 Why males use "Masculine Avatar"?
Reasonable result but I want to see the cross correlation over each reason and area.
p.28 Why females use "Feminine Avatar"?
Seeing only the picked-up samples, physical females seem to reflect their physical appearance to the avatar more than males using masculine avatars, and decorate it by clothes.
p.29 Why females use "Masculine Avatar"?
I wonder why "To be liberated from "female"" doesn't come to the primary reason in spite of its largest numbers of samples.
By the way, I think the word "handsome guy" is not suitable to express what is indicated here. The original Japanese term is "ikemen", which means a man with a face of neutral, bishojo-like beauty. Like I have claimed that "bishojo" in Japan no longer means "beautiful young girl" as its original spell, "ikemen" could be written without literal translation.
pp.30-31 Avatar age
This result may reflect the disgust to subject child-look characters to one's desire in North America and Europe. However, which avatars are actually taken as Juvenile can be different from Japan. It is because what appearance is regarded as what age seriously varies among US/Euro and Asia, possibly due to smaller difference between appearances of Asian adult and child. This difference causes a situation that sexual scenes in Japanese comics and animes are claimed as illustrations of child sexual abuse/exploitation or cosplay photos are claimed as child pornography.
From a view of Japanese, it is still not clear how to draw a line between Youth and Adult. Many characters in Japanese comics and animes are 14 or 17 years old regardless of their appearance. Thus we feel like these numbers as "best age for driving stories" and regard the VR avatars as "around 17 because it is Japanese anime style". This comes from our systems of junior-high and high school in physical world. If we survey designed age of avatar in detail for Japanese users, I predict there would be clusters separated at 12, 18, and 22. These boundaries should reflect how each user behaves and what type of person they desire to be seen in social VR. Education system has so big impact on one's view of life.
I guess the Youth avatars in Japan are mostly Mame-friends (a group of avatars sharing body; Mamehinata, Kipfel, Isanai Nuku, Uzuruha, Clonka, Mitsumame, Ulthara, Yilnel). Original design of Haolan looks Youth, but most of its modification might look like over-15…?
p.32 Real-avatar appearance mapping
I guess this analysis was for seeing how much the age gap is disabled in social VR. Nem usually claims in talk lives that age gap constraints communication rather than physical sex in Japan. A red line in the oblique axis indicates correlation between avatar appearance and physical age, which is not apparent here in Feminine avatars. Masculine avatars used by male users show a slight correlation with physical age.
p.33 Why: Juvenile (5 to 14 years old)
Not a surprising result.
p.34 Why: Youth (15 to 24 years old)
I love the phrase "To get what youth enables, allows or evokes". I am used to think what is truly desired by people is not just a visible feature like a young appearance but some abstract values behind it. I think in the same way for feminine characters or fetishisms.
However, the detail of "what youth enables" should be explored further deeply. For example, interpretation of the sample saying "It's tough to look like a middle-aged man in a game" is ambiguous - it can be either "To be young" or "Liked the young look, personal preference". In order to reveal further detail, we may need interviews in face. Even if it reveals lookism, we should not deny it but we should have a logic to claim that even lookism wouldn't cause problem.
p.35 Why: Adult(25 to 44 years old)
Not a surprising result. I am here.
p.36 Why: Avatar doesn't look a specific age
Not a surprising result.
pp.37-38 Similarity to physical self
Females tends to choose a similar avatar to the physical self. I think another reason than personal preference - recent trend favors feminine avatar that physical female can appear closer to than male. Combining it with the discussions in "Why females use "Feminine Avatar"?", I think notable numbers of female prefer to decorate or extend their own physical appearance rather than total metamorphose. North America and Europe seem to be between metamorphose and decoration. Their avatar designs may be for both being bishojo and appealing their better selves.
Including furry in semi-humanoid made it little unclear why Resonite has outstanding ratio of "looks completely different from my physical world self". Which is dominant in it, a furry culture trasnfered from NeosVR, or newcomers from VRChat? But it is technically and morally difficult to make a criteria to distinguish furry from other semi-humanoid.
p.39 Why similar to physical self
Not a surprising result.
p.40 Why include elements of physical self
"Because of avatar familiarity" could be, if it is different from "Greater immersion", imply familiarity as an object for herself/himself/themselves. I imagine a situation that one designs the avatar as the other or an object of sight but wants to feel intimacy with it or not to feel guilty to observe it, thus intends to make it partly belong to self.
I am in this group.
p.41 Why different from physical self
Not a surprising result. I don't come up with any other reasons.
pp.44-45 Change of behavior
I want to see a cross correlation over area and VR platform. It was unexpected for me that Cluster has more "It changes to some extent" than VRChat. Maybe it is because many Cluster users are not familiar with the avatar communication or many VRChat users are American/European who tend to feel continuity between the avatar and the physical self.
Another surprising thing is that the percentages of "It does not change at all" are almost the same among Virtual Cast and Cluster. It may be because one can hardly keep the character apart from the physical self after a long career of broadcast. I mean, a way of thinking or speaking leaks from the physical self to virtual over time, or behavior in the physical world gets closer to that of the character.
pp.46-47 Why: It changes to some extent
Since this question means not "Why does it change to some extent?" but "Why did you answer that it changed to some extent?", samples may contain both reasons of change and concrete descriptions of the change. I would like to focus on the concrete description of the change. Those who can answer the reason may intentionally change their behavior, and I guess the reason might be similar to the known statements like "want Metaverse to be where you can be a new self".
It is interesting that there is an English sample saying "I try to practice a more serene mindset in VR", which is in contrast to Japanese preference to express their emotion through avatars.
p.48 Why: It does not change at all
Not a surprising result.
pp.49-50 Positive or negative influence
I predicted that samples of "less sleep" would be more in Japan and Asia than Euro/US due to their self-deprecating habit, but the result showed only Asia except for Japan was above the others. I guess the impact of sleeping late is seriously taken in area where examination is very competitive (e.g. Taiwan and South Korea) and where high temperature makes the night life active (e.g. Taiwan and its southward area). And it may be also due to the self-deprecating habit that the male tends to answer "Negative influence" a bit more than female.
p.51 Positive influence
Not a surprising samples. If I were Nem, I would show this page in every presentations in spite of its too flowery statements.
p.52 Negative influence
Not a surprising samples.
pp.55-56 Hide VR identity or not
This result is consistent with my impression in VRChat, but bitter to accept. I understand it is difficult to keep VR identity hidden for years. It is needless to say for those who live with family. Having a friend touching in both physical real and VR must merge the two lives rapidly. Another dilemma is that, if one appreciate the function of Metaverse for exploring one's totally new possibilities, she/he/they wish people living in the physical world experience it then it requires to disclose that she/he/they is a Metaverse user. As for in what region and how much we should make overlaps between the identities or the relationships in two reals, I am in an experimentation too.
It is reasonable that Virtual Cast and Cluster have opposite features, but I want to see comparison of Japan and Euro/US except for these two platforms. If Japanese still tends not to hide in VRChat and Resonite, it is a prediction of what happens in an area having advanced avatar-communication that Euro/US might follow in coming years.
The reason why Asia except for Japan don't hide VR identity might be that, for example in Taiwan, there is no custom to hide a government-registered name on the Internet.
p.57 Why to hide VR identity
What a misery!
There is an English sample saying "The stigma around being furry could damage my career or professional relationship". Which stigma is more serious in Euro/US, around being animal or furry? Or, are "make something subject to one's love" and "being something" distinguished there? I am wondering it because this difference and complicated thought around this is still not fully understand outside the culture of avatar communication.
p.58 Why not to hide VR identity
Not a surprising result.
pp.59-60 Main identity of life
It doesn't show a clear trend for me, but comparison of Euro/US and Japan gives an insight that Euro/US tend to make one identity be the main of life and prefer the newer one, while Japan and Asia keep multiple identities in parallel (so called "dividualism" in Japan).
It is a bit surprising that Virtual Cast and VRChat don't much differ. Lifestyle Survey 2023 showed that Virtual Cast users didn't want to live on VR because they already know the actual difficulty of earning by live. Preference of identity seems independent from the prediction of income. Also it doesn't show effect of "eclipse" that streamers often experience.
First of all, I am not sure if the word "identity" is really suitable to this question. I don't come up with better word. "Character" and "persona" could not be suitable in the cases of who uses totally the same identity in two reals and who totally separates them.
p.61 Why: VR is already my main identity
A reasonable result, but I want to know if they gradually became like that or they were like that from the beginning.
p.62 Why: I want VR to become my main identity
Not a surprising result.
p.63 Why: I do not want VR to become my main identity
I am relieved that there are many samples of "Want to keep my identities separate".
I am in this group. Apologies (for whom?)
p.64 Why: I use same identity in VR and physical world
Not a surprising result.
p.65 Review comment
Dr. Ohyama's group did an experiment for quantitative evaluation of correlation between gender identity and immersion to an avatar (https://conference.vrsj.org/ac2021/program/doc/2B1-2.pdf ). I expected more detailed discussion of gender, identity, and analysis method though I understand they are not focuses of this review comment.
My own social lifestyle (Japanese):
My answers
Below is a part of my answers to this survey.
1. Generic questions regarding the user // ユーザーに関する一般質問
Q1-1 Please select the "area" you are currently residing in // あなたの現在お住まいの「地域」を教えて下さい
Secret
Q1-2 If you do not live in Japan, please state the "country" you are currently residing in // 日本以外の方は、あなたの現在お住まいの「国」を教えて下さい
Secret
Q1-3 Please state your age group // 年代を教えて下さい
Secret
Q1-4 Please state your sex in the physical world (If it is not on the list, please fill in "other") *The purpose of this question is to distinguish between ”physical” sex and avatar appearance (Masculine/Feminine) in the virtual world // 物理現実世界における性別を教えて下さい（当てはまるものがない場合は「その他」に記入して下さい）*この質問は仮想現実世界におけるアバターの性別と物理性別を区別するためのものです
Secret
Q1-5 What social VR do you use "the most"? // 「最も」よく利用するソーシャルVRを教えて下さい
●VRChat
Neos VR
Resonite
cluster
Spatial
Virtual Cast // バーチャルキャスト
Horizon Worlds
ChilloutVR
Rec Room
Roblox
Mozilla Hubs
その他:
2. The avatar appearance // アバターの外見
Q2-1 What type of avatar do you use the most? (If it is not on the list, please fill in "other") // 最もよく使うアバターの種別を教えて下さい（当てはまるものがない場合は「その他」に記入して下さい）
●Humanoid (human looking) // 人間（現実の人に近い人間型）
Semi-Humanoid (human-like with added fantasy elements, such as cat ear, tails, etc. Including "furry") // 亜人間（動物の耳や尻尾や羽が生えているなどファンタジー要素のある人間型。いわゆる"ケモノ"を含む）
Humanoid Robot or Cyborg // 人型ロボット・サイボーグ
Animal (non-fantasy animal, non-humanoid） // 動物（実在する動物、人型でないもの）
Plant (non-fantasy plants, non-humanoid）// 植物（実在する植物、人型でないもの）
Monster (fantasy animal or plant, non-humanoid） // モンスター（実在しない生物、人型でないもの）
その他:
Q2-2 Why did you choose the specific avatar type? // なぜそのアバター種別を選んだのか教えて下さい
Because of the following (A) and (B) and (C).
(A) It is the closest to the form of physical body so that the easiest to get immersion. Why did I want immersion? It was because I expected unknown psychological effects by getting feedback from a new identity to the physical life. Having a shared point among the avatar and the physical body may enhance this feedback.
(B) I wanted to show my will of committing to typical customs of that species, e.g. verbal communication or sexual relationship, to other users.
(C) I like that species as a subject of seeing the appearance and hearing the voice. I had known the custom of looking their own avatar by mirrors in social VR before I joined it.
Q2-3 Does your avatar (the one you use the most) look masculine or feminine? (If it is not on the list, please fill in "other") // 最もよく使うアバターの外見上の性別を教えて下さい（当てはまるものがない場合は「その他」で回答ください）
Masculine // 男性
●Feminine // 女性
その他:
Q2-4 Why did you choose a masculine or a feminine avatar appearance? // なぜそのアバターの外見上の性別を選んだのか教えて下さい
(A) I was interested in the character expression and its culture, especially in bishojo expression as its core. It seemed to me that the social VR is the frontier of the bishojo culture. I have been eager to experience it and contribute to promote it.
(B) Also, I had been expressing some aspects of myself on feminine images by physical clothes and Custom Cast (a character design service for smartphone) so that I transferred those images to my avatar. The feminine image is, as well as a feminine person, comfortable for me to see the appearance and hear the voice. Why did I express some aspect of me by the feminine images? It is for purposes of,
(B-1) Taking myself positively as a pleasant thing for me,
(B-2) Seeking a way to hide socially negative elements of my physical sex,
(B-3) Freely seeing and posing an appearance pleasant for me, and let it act with my own right, without asking approval of others.
(B-4) Changing the social norms to be tolerant to have desires and express it, by my behaving tolerant to evaluation and desire from others; evaluation of appearance, voice, and behavior.
(B-5) Curing loneliness and helping to look at myself objectively by treating myself as a pleasant other and by talking to myself.
(A) and (B) are related each other. The reason why I got interested in character expression and culture as written in (A) was because that region makes it easy to do (B). The reason why I had a purposes (B-1)-(B-5) was because (A) inspired me the possibility to do that. Why did I accepted the inspired (B-1)-(B-5) as my own purpose? I don't want to tell it.
Q2-5 Does your avatar resemble your appearance in the physical world? // あなたのアバターは物理世界でのあなたの外見に似ていますか？
My avatar looks similar to my physical world self // 私のアバターは物理世界での私の姿と似た外見です
●My avatar includes some elements of my physical world self // 私のアバターは一部物理世界の私の姿の要素を含んでいます
My avatar looks completely different from my physical world self /// 私のアバターは物理世界での私の姿とは全く違う外見です
その他:
Q2-6 Why did you choose the avatar that either resembles or does not resemble your appearance in the physical world? // 物理世界でのあなたの外見に似た、あるいは似ていないアバターを使う理由を教えて下さい
As stated in the answer (A) to Q2-2, I expected unknown psychological effects by getting feedback from new identity and body sense to the physical identity. The feedback may come through the shared point among the avatar and the physical body. Why didn't I share all the elements? It was because I wanted a new identity be formed instead of totally copying the physical identity into the Metaverse.
Q2-7 Please tell us what age the avatar you use the most looks like? // 最もよく使うアバターの外見上の年齢がどう見えるか教えて下さい
Infancy (0 to 4 years old) // 幼年 (0～4歳)
Juvenile (5 to 14 years old) // 少年 (5～14歳)
Youth (15 to 24 years old) // 青年 (15～24歳)
●Adult (25 to 44 years old) // 壮年 (25～44歳)
Middle-aged (45 to 64 years old) // 中年 (45～64歳)
Senior (65 years old or older) // 高年 (65歳以上)
Avatar doesn't look a specific age // アバターは外見上の年齢を持たない
Q2-8 If your avatar has a look of a specific age, please explain why you chose for your avatar to look a specific age // アバターが外見上の年齢を持つ場合、なぜその年齢を選んだのか教えて下さい
According to the typical social norm, I thought that age satisfies the below (A), (B), and (C).
(A) Impress others as a thoughtful and modest person,
(B) Taken its appearance and voice as pleasant,
(C) Being subject of desire to have a private relationship.
3. The user behavior and identity // ユーザーの行動とアイデンティティ
Q3-1 Does your behavior in social VR (such as the way you speak, react, and act) differ from how you behave in the physical real world? // ソーシャルVRにおけるあなたの行動（喋り方、リアクション、ふるまい方など）は物理現実世界の場合と変わりますか？
It does not change at all // 全く変わらない
●It changes to some extent // ある程度変わる
Q3-2 Why did you choose the answer to the previous question? // 前の質問について、なぜその答えを選んだのか理由を教えて下さい
Because of the following (A) and (B).
(A) I intendedly change my tone of speaking, reaction, and behavior. Why do I change them? It is because,
(A-1) As the reason why I didn't share all the elements of my physical appearance with the avatar stated in the answer to Q2-6, I wanted a new identity be formed in Metaverse.
(A-2) As the reason (A) in the answer to Q2-8, I expected to impress others as a thoughtful and modest person.
(A-3) I think it is important to spread calm communication style with respect to each other for promoting the social VR as a frontier of bishojo expression. (B) By changing my voice from the physical world, my tone of speaking, reaction, and behavior naturally change as well. Due to the reasons (A) and (B) and (C) in the answer to Q2-8, I tune my voice to be close to the image of my preferred age. My tone and reaction and behavior changes to match to the same image. I feel it like not acting with labor but naturally becoming.
Q3-3 How does your life in social VR generally influence your life in the physical world? // ソーシャルVRでの生活はあなたの物理世界での生活にどちらかというとどのような影響を与えていますか？
●Positive influence // 良い影響
Negative influence // 悪い影響
Q3-4 Why did you choose the answer to the previous question? // 前の質問について、なぜその答えを選んだのか理由を教えて下さい
Comparing the positive effects (A)+(B)+(C)+(D)+(E) with the negative effect (F), I think the negative is acceptable for enjoying the positive.
(A) Here I can compensate the bias of social relationship and lack of communication in the physical world.
(B) I can communicate with others in a way that we don't focus on career and position in the physical world but just exchanging knowledge and thought each time. And I enjoy it.
(C) I met many users who think the social standards and idea of selves can be modified by ourselves on our demand instead of sticking to the current ones. This style is comfortable for me.
(D) My newly formed identity can be rapidly strengthened by getting feedback from others. I prefer it. Why do I prefer it? As stated in the reason (B-5) in the answer to Q2-4, I can cure loneliness and look at myself objectively by treating myself as a pleasant other and by talking to myself.
(E) I started to feel the world profound more than before. I always feel like every strangers I see in town or train could be users of social VR whether I will meet or already met in VR. It makes me conscious of their hidden private aspect.
(F) Sleeping late is the negative effect.
Q3-5 Do you keep your identity in social VR hidden from your friends or family in the physical world? // ソーシャルVRでのアイデンティティを物理世界での友人や家族に隠していますか？
●Yes // はい
No // いいえ
Q3-6 Why did you choose the answer to the previous question? // 前の質問について、なぜその答えを選んだのか理由を教えて下さい
Because of the following (A) and (B).
(A) Think about a person who knows me in the physical world and doesn't share the custom of the social VR - the custom of respecting one's identity as a different one from that in other scenes. If such a person turns out to know my VR identity, the very unstable psychological relationship between my physical identity and VR identity must be disturbed by their communication way of identifying the two identities. This relationship is maintained by forming a new identity in the social VR and getting fine-tuned feedback from it to the physical identity as stated in the answer to Q2-6.
(B) It may cause drawback to me if those who concerned to my physical affiliation know me taking a break and its time.
Q3-7 If you have different identities in social VR and the physical world, in the future, would you want your Social VR identity to become your main identity in your life rather than your real world identity? // ソーシャルVRと物理世界で別々のアイデンティティで生活している場合、将来的に、物理世界のアイデンティティよりもソーシャルVRのアイデンティティをあなたの人生のメインのアイデンティティにしたいと思いますか？
I use the same identity in social VR and in the real world // ソーシャルVRと物理世界で同じアイデンティティを使っています
My social VR identity is already my main identity // すでにソーシャルVRでのアイデンティティがメインのアイデンティティです
Yes, I want my Social VR identity to become my main identity // はい、ソーシャルVRのアイデンティティをメインのアイデンティにしたいです
●No, I do not want my Social VR identity to become my main identity // いいえ、ソーシャルVRのアイデンティティをメインのアイデンティにしたくないです
Q3-8 Why did you choose the answer to the previous question? // 前の質問について、なぜその答えを選んだのか理由を教えて下さい
Current my VR identity is too gentle and too calm to get on today's physical life. I don't want this identity be despised or blamed by piling mistakes up during longer, more public activities.
However, I wish to make a new, more tolerant character with an avatar and voice-changing technology for an occupation in future. Since it will be strongly linked to my physical identity, here I call it "character" instead of "identity". I don't plan to completely hide the current physical identity and live on any new independent identity, but I will accept it if the destiny forced it to me. Basically, I am favorable to be able to decide which identity we live on by ourselves.
Please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions // その他ご意見や感想などあれば教えて下さい
I appreciate much that you gave me an opportunity to tell what I am thinking about identity in the social VR.
In addition to your survey, I want to know how many users use multiple avatars in daily VR life, why they choose that style, and how they assign roles to each of their avatar.