Avatars in Education:

How Video Games May Help Us Better Understand Ourselves

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Christian de LunaDeborah Fields

EDUC-552

Avatar, a term attributed to Hinduism regarding the descent

and incarnation of deities, in particular Vishnu. As early as the

1980s, the term began to take on a new meaning with the emergence

of cyberspace. As Boellstroff mentions in Coming of Age in Second Life

(2008), “with reference to cyber sociality, the term was probably

first used in the virtual worlds Habitat and Ultima IV in the

mid-1980s, as well as in Neal Stephenson’s 1993 science fiction

novel Snow Crash” (128). The term now has become applicable to any

human who descends into the cyber world and creates an

incarnation of himself. This paper will explore the concept of

avatars, online representations of real life individuals, to

exhibit what may be gained from implementing such entities in

educational environments.

1. Virtual Identities

In What Video Games have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy (2003),

Gee discusses three identities tapped into and espoused in the

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creation of an avatar: the virtual identity, the real-world

identity, and the projective identity (49-51). One’s virtual

identity is defined by the in-game rules and designs implemented

by the game creators. Essentially, if one is playing the massive

multi-player online game (MMOG) World of Warcraft (WoW), one cannot

choose to be a Jedi knight as is possible in another MMOG Star

Wars: The Old Republic (SW:TOR) (though this may be possible through

aesthetic modifications at the very least). Within the parameters

of the game, players otherwise have nearly free reign to

represent themselves however they may choose. Whether they choose

to “create” themselves in a manner that is “similar” or vastly

different to their own appearance is at their own discretion. As

Lee and Hoadley mention in “Ugly in a World Where You Can Choose

to be Beautiful: Teaching and Learning About Diversity via

Virtual Worlds” (2006), “MMOGs provide a place where people can

create a brand new, second self – that is, one can construct a new

virtual identity and experience interactions and life walking in

the shoes of the persona of one’s choice” (384). This freedom of

choice allows players to express themselves in ways that would be

impossible to do so in real life.

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Depending on the game, one may customize one’s virtual

identity through a variety of different means including: race,

class, and gender, to name a few. Additionally, players may also

place themselves in roles that may be impossible for them to ever

experience in real life, making the virtual identity a

potentially valuable tool for understanding individual and other

perspectives. As Kolko mentions in “Representing Bodies in

Virtual Space: The Rhetoric of Avatar Design” (2006), “on-line

experiences provided participants with the chance to see how

others live and relate, get outside of the constraints of social

mores, and develop a sense of how different components of their

identity affected how they were treated in the face-to-face

world” (177). By placing players into virtual identities

unfamiliar to their own, players could potentially gain insight

into the societies and lives of others. The potential to

experience and learn first-hand the perspectives of others to any

degree could prove invaluable.

Also noteworthy about the notion of the virtual identity is

the anonymity it affords its users. As opposed to in real life,

preconceptions about In Life on the Screen (1995), Turkle relates the

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sentiments of a player of a MOO (Multi-User Dungeon, object

oriented): “It’s easier to change the way people perceive you,

because all they’ve got is what you show them. They don’t look at

your body and make assumptions. They don’t hear your accent and

make assumptions. All they see is your words” (185). In MMOGs,

Players are free to remake themselves in whatever ways they want

and are only inhibited by the game’s constraints, not by

constraints that can truly limit potential such as SES, race, or

disability. The benefits of this anonymity become even more

transparent when considered with the potential to investigate and

enhance one’s own personal identity or real-life identity as will

be discussed later.

2. Real-world Identity

The second identity Gee discusses is the one that often

comes to mind when considering the concept of identity, the real-

world identity. As opposed to virtual identities, real-world

identities derive, as their name implies, from the real world,

from the players playing the game. This term is almost all-

inclusive in relation to the player, encompassing gender, race,

occupations, religious beliefs, political affiliations—

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essentially anything that makes the players who they are. Hayes

relates the concept of real-world identity in her article

“Gendered Identities at Play: Case Studies of Two Women Playing

Morrowind”. In the article, Hayes describes the experiences of

two female graduate students playing Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. She

mentions how one of the women, Joanna, ultimately decided on

playing as a character that relied on interpersonal

communications skills while the other woman in the study,

Deirdre, adopted a persona that was stealthy and was well-versed

in potion making. The two women gravitated towards these

personalities as guided by their real life interests. Hayes

writes that “Joanna was immediately drawn to social interactions

within the game, which developed her character’s personality

skills” while Deirdre “discovered a love for making potions early

in the game and compared it to activities that she enjoyed in

real life [chemistry and cooking]” (Hayes, 2006, 35-6). From

this, one gathers that, in addition to assuming a virtual

identity, the player often imbues his own personal identity, his

real-world identity, into designing the avatar.

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What is different about one’s real-world identity and what

one brings into the game is that what is brought through the

screen is not ever a complete depiction of one’s true self. It is

impossible for one to truly represent all aspects of one’s life

in any (current) virtual world. More so, it is most likely that

one would not want to convey all aspect of one’s self into a

character that he can design at his own choosing. Boellstroff

relates this sentiment by recounting one resident’s thoughts on

the subject:

I always think that people behave a little differently in their online personas than for real, no matter what their intentions. I think that online activity is role-play in every sense, even those who aren’t roleplaying, because people just suppress certain aspects of their personalities and accentuate others. (2008, 119)

But in addition to excluding some qualities of one’s identity in

the creation of an avatar, virtual worlds allow players to spread

their personality across a number of personas. Turkle describes

how one MMO player called Gordon created three separate personas

that allowed for multiple representations of his persona: as a

flowery romantic, a self-confident and contained type, and a

flirtatious, experimental, sexually-open individual. Turkle then

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mentions that “each of his multiple personae has its independence

and integrity but Gordon also relates them all to ‘himself.’ In

this way, there is relationship among his different personae;

they are each an aspect of himself” (1995, 190). Essentially, in

online environments, players have the power to imbue themselves

into multiple virtual selves. The benefits of this will become

most apparent when discussing the concept of projective identity.

3. Projective Identity

As Gee defines it the projective identity entails projecting

“one’s values and desires onto the virtual character” and “seeing

the virtual character as one’s own project in the making, a

creature whom I imbue with a certain trajectory through time

defined by my aspirations for what I want that character to be

and become” (2003, 50). Essentially, the projective identity is

the transfer point between the virtual and real identities in

which the player and avatar influence each other’s development.

As Fields and Kafai highlight in “Navigating Life as an Avatar:

The Shifting Identities-in-Practice of a Girl Player in a Tween

Virtual World” (2009), there is “an opening to create an identity

from scratch, or at least to choose which aspects of one’s self

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will bleed into one’s virtual persona” (3). The player envisions

his avatar growing in a certain way, reaching an idealized form,

and takes whatever action necessary to achieve that goal.

To attempt to observe this concept, I surveyed a number of

MMOGamers and asked them about their experiences in avatar

creation. The responses varied in the degree to which players

actively felt that they projected any personal ideals onto their

characters, with the majority of the group primarily focusing on

elements of gameplay in their responses instead. Tracy, a high-

leveled WoW player with multiple characters at the level cap,

discussed how her preferred style of play for her main character,

a blood elf rogue, primarily influenced her character choice,

commenting that “I chose rogue over other classes because at the

time the specifics of it said that rogues could disappear, and i

was not a great gamer at the time and wanted a way to not die

every three seconds”. In terms of playing as her class, Tracy

mentions that “I wont go assassination or subtlety because i find

the rotations (moves) too difficult to execute. I am really

awesome at my combat spec though”. For Tracy, finding the

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gameplay style that suited her was the most important ideal that

she sought to transfer to her avatar.

Ka kui, another high-level WoW player, discussed how

preferred roles (in his case DPS, or Damage-Per-Second) and

fundamental class traits primarily decided his character type, a

gnome mage. He mentions that this distinction crosses through

most of his gameplay saying that:

All of my characters are essentially DPS roles and specifically, magic DPS characters. I think it represents two things for me: first, that I really enjoy the fast-pacedcombat side of things and like to go on the offense rather than supporting or defending a group; second, that I am always intrigued my magic within video games because it is not something that can be done in real-life.

Though there is a degree of personal projection in his avatar

design in terms of game utility, Ka kui does mention that beyond

that, there is not much more of a personal connection. He states

that “I view my character as a tool for fun rather than as a

reflection of myself, and I view development in terms of levels

and not character personality”.

Some of the other MMOGamers surveyed responded more on the side of character development in addition to aspects of game utility (though not to the extent expressed by the previous respondents). Nikila, a player of The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO)

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mentioned that her choice in character was a reflection of herself. She wrote that:

I personally identify with the Hobbit race more so than the powerful / regal races of Elf, Man, and Dwarf, because it’s underestimated and no one expects much from Hobbits, but they can surprise people…To tie in with my previous point, Iwanted to give my Hobbit the most unexpected class for its race–Guardian.

For Nikila, playing as a race that reflects her own personal

sentiments was paramount in her avatar design. Choosing a class

that was unconventional supplemented the unconventional identity

she hoped to project upon her character.

David, a SW:TOR player, responded at length in regards to

how he saw his avatar and how he desired him to develop. He

recalled how “the character I wanted was someone raised in "evil"

circumstances but who is, himself, morally good (sort of a cross

between chaotic good and lawful evil in D&D alignment schemes)”.

David then commented on how he puts this ideal into practice,

mentioning that:

I put many points into skills and spells that would allow meto do large amounts of damage to a large amount of enemies simultaneously since I thought my character would be one to rain destruction in the name of both evil and good. Interestingly enough, an instanced event introduced me to the joys and benefits of being a healer type character and Iswitched my specs accordingly. In fact this role seems to

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fit better with my bad-guy-turned-good character. I really enjoy playing the role I selected for my character and I wouldn't change his personality/play style.

In addition to game components complementing David’s preferred

gameplay style, he also saw such changes as reinforcing his

projective identity. Such alignment of game play and identity

development should be an ideal to strive towards in avatar

systems in both educational and entertainment games.

When asked if he feels that he behaves any differently when

playing as his character, David responded that “I try to keep my

in-game character close enough to my real character so that I can

get more involved in the story/more easily transpose my

personality into the character/‘live my character's life’”. For

David, his character is an extension of himself and to enjoy the

playing experience, playing close to his own personal identity is

important. David then describes how he does not see playing as a

virtual identity as different from playing as himself. He wrote:

I usually think that my characters are a dramatized version of one or more aspects of myself. I also try to RP my character in a way that would bring about the aspects of myself that I believe I have. As such, they can't really change the way I perceive myself since they already are manifestations of my character.

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Similar to Gordon, David sees his avatars as extensions of

himself, the real-world identity projected upon the virtual.

4. Methodological Complications

Though the surveys yielded some insight into how players

projected their ideals onto their characters, flaws in

methodology may have precluded more in-depth responses on

personal investment in characters—the main focus of the survey.

In a future survey, one could implement scaled questions to

comparatively gauge personality and to interpret those scores

against the written responses. Perhaps an inventory test of how

individuals felt they ranked in certain personal attributes

(i.e., aggressiveness, compassion, loyalty, etc.) may help reveal

if aspects of a player’s personality are indeed being projected

onto their characters unknowingly. From this, one could

potentially be able to predict the type of class (DPS, Tank,

Healer, Support) a player would choose when playing a game. Such

a rubric could prove useful in the development of educational

game environments.

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Additionally, the gameplay experience of players may have

played a role in determining responses. For those who played

extensively, responses may be more in terms of gameplay elements

as opposed to personal projection as was observed in the survey.

Intensity of gameplay may need to be further investigated in the

design of educational games in order to ensure that students are

able to learn the intended lessons without becoming over-focused

on playing the game—a prevalent challenge in educational game

development.

Lastly, designing the survey to more explicitly ask players

about what ideals they have projected onto their characters and

how they would like to see their character develop could help

illuminate notions of projective identity. The survey given did

not ask about what players sought from their characters which may

reveal more aspects of personal investment. Then again, the

possibility that some players do not put any investment into

character and only play for the sake of play is a real

possibility and is most likely true for a great proportion of

game players.

5. Possible Selves

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With the previous overview of identity types, we can now

move on to how identities may help benefit educational

environments. The notion of the possible self, proposed by Markus

and Nurius in “Possible Selves” (1986), relates to the notion of

projective identity in terms of how the individual conceives of

their potential possibilities in life. According to Markus and

Nurius, possible selves are “how individuals think about their

potential and about their future. Possible selves are the ideal

selves that we would very much like to become. They are also the

selves we could become, and the selves we are afraid of becoming”

(1986, 954). Essentially, they are identities one has had, one

currently has, and what one could potentially have in the future.

They may be beneficial or they may be detrimental; nevertheless,

they all inform who a person is and how they may react in

situations.

The aspect of the possible self most relevant to educational

games research arguably manifests itself in the creation of

future selves. In the mind of a student, the future possible self

only exists as something to aspire towards that is hard to

actively cultivate and see oneself actually moving towards. In

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terms of the cultivation of a virtual identity’s possible self,

the turn-around time from action to achievement is notably

faster, especially when compared to the real-life identity. An

avatar can quickly go from an unskilled mage to an accomplished

and skilled wielder of fire, ice, and arcane magic in a matter of

days, whereas the player playing him may take decades before he

actually begins to start developing usable skills. Obviously, the

content learned in video games is arguably not on the same scale

as content learned real life; however, the potential to breach

that gap is a subject of note for educational game designers.

Gee discusses the notion of projective identities in the

classroom (a virtual environment) in regards to science training.

He mentions how students craft their virtual identity of

“scientist” by engaging in labs and other science activities.

Students may attempt to craft their virtual scientists to hone

certain characteristics in the work environment such as

resilience, cooperation, and ingenuity. “They want their

scientist to become this sort of person, whether or not they are

themselves anything like this in their ‘everyday’ lives” (Gee,

2003, 62). Through this experience, Gee theorizes that students

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may eventually earn those traits and skills themselves, writing

that “learners in a good science classroom come to feel what it

is like to have the capacity to actually be the sort of scientist

(and person) they have wanted and build their ‘character’ in the

classroom to be” (Gee, 2003, 63). The possible self envisioned by

the student becomes manifest as the student projects his ideals

onto a virtual identity. With this, it becomes possible for one

to begin to conceptualize how educational games may utilize this

same notion to allow players to imagine themselves as

astronomers, biologists, mathematicians, historians, writers,

etc. through virtual avatars.

Additionally, the value of experimentation and the leniency

in failure found in video games allows for an ideal environment

in which students may explore many possible selves. As Lee and

Hoadley mention in “Leveraging Identity to Make Learning Fun”

(2007), “Avatar creation is a fruitful opportunity for learning,

particularly for adolescents who may wish to enact and test

possible selves at a time in their lives when their own

identities are changing” (2). The safety afforded in such a

relatively risk-free environment would allow students to explore

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whether or not certain careers or subjects of study could be a

good fit for them. In a sense, the projective identity made

possible through video games can act as a trial possible self. If

a student can see early on that he does not enjoy the subject of

study (or in the case of a game, the class of his character), he

can make a quick change to another persona with little

consequence involved.

This notion was exhibited in the survey responses provided

by two respondents. James, a SW:TOR player mentioned how he tried

playing as a type of character class that he would not normally

play as. He wrote, “while I tend to play morally ambivalent

characters supporting the group rather than taking a direct role,

I picked a class (Bounty Hunter) that encouraged taking the lead

in aggression and a race of savage warriors (Rattataki) that were

more concerned with demonstrating strength than anything”. Upon

further playing the game, he quickly discovered that he did not

enjoy the role saying “there's a certain visceral thrill in

employing the most massively destructive tools in my arsenal, but

the routine of running up to enemies and beating them senseless

is getting monotonous”. James was interested in trying out a new

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persona and even though he lost time playing as the character,

the consequences were not dire. In the future, he will most

likely avoid playing aggressor roles and will stick with what he

thinks fit his play style best.

6. Conclusion

Hopefully this article has illustrated some of the potential

gains that can be achieved through the development of avatar-

based games and technologies for classrooms. Avatars on occasion

allow for players to begin understanding perspectives that they

may never have had the opportunity or ability to experience. They

allow players to safely construct alternate identities so they

may observe whether or not an identity suits them or not. What is

interesting to note from this discussion is that gains from

identity play have often been considered one way from real-world

to virtual. However, the proposal of such game technologies that

allow players to learn skills from their on-screen identities and

to determine if such an identity is fitting for them stands to

redefine how society considers identity.

The notion of online anonymity has long been a hallmark of

cyberspace. That notion may stand to change in the coming years

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as avatars may become more integrated in one’s “real-world”

presence. Turkle discusses how “players sometimes talk about

their real selves as a composite of their characters and

sometimes talk about their screen personae as means for working

on their RL selves” (1995, 192). And as Kolko mentions “teachers

and students alike came to realize that the body does not

disappear in cyberspace, and that the on-line interactions of a

mediated body have consequences in the mundane world of the

classroom” (2006, 177). A time may be coming when one’s formerly

anonymous avatar becomes simply an extension of one’s real-world

self. The benefits and consequences of this remain to be wholly

seen, but for now, the gains for education do have promise.

Works Cited

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Human. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Fields, D. & Kafai, Y. (2009). Navigating Life as an Avatar: The Shifting Identities-in-Practice of a Girl

Player in a Tween Virtual World.

Gee, J. P. (2003). What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York:

Palgrave Macmillan.

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Kolko, B. E. (2006). Representing Bodies in Virtual Space: The Rhetoric of Avatar Design. The

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http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/019722499128484.

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