ABSTRACT
The chapter presents the results of a quantitative study conducted on a group of 64 Polish video content creators (influencers, streamers, etc.) in social media. The objective of the study was to verify the assumption that the assessment of a 3D humanlike avatar depends on the impression it makes when confronted with physical people who create and animate their avatar (human-avatar scale), while controlling personality variables: self-esteem, appearance, sense of efficacy and personality. Participants evaluated three animated humanlike avatars created from a selfie using the AvatarCam smartphone application. The results show that the avatars appeared to be less intimidating, attracted respondents’ attention more and seemed more friendly, while being rated as less attractive and communicative. However, the positive evaluation of avatars was not associated with a willingness to use them in their work. The only significant predictor of avatar assessment turned out to be that the avatar’s presentation compared to a human made the impression on the study participants. None of the personality variables had an impact on avatar evaluation. The results open up a discussion on utilising people’s image to monetise it in the digital space and people’s desire to use avatars as part of the activity they undertake online.
