Do Avatars that Look Like Their Users Improve Performance in a Simulation?

Recent advances in scanning technology have enabled the widespread capture of 3D character models based on human subjects. Intuition suggests that, with these new capabilities to create avatars that look like their users, every player should have his or her own avatar to play videogames or simulations. We explicitly test the impact of having one's own avatar (vs. a yoked control avatar) in a simulation (i.e., maze running task with mines). We test the impact of avatar identity on both subjective (e.g., feeling connected and engaged, liking avatar's appearance, feeling upset when avatar's injured, enjoying the game) and behavioral variables (e.g., time to complete task, speed, number of mines triggered, riskiness of maze path chosen). Results indicate that having an avatar that looks like the user improves their subjective experience, but there is no significant effect on how users behave in the simulation.