Self-representation does (not) spark joy: Experiment on effects of avatar customisation and personality on emotions in VR

There is an increasing relevance of our virtual representations and identities in the contexts of immersive virtual reality (VR) whether it be for leisure, work, or studies. Importantly, various communities are progressively turning to collaborating in virtuality, which has been made approachable and more intuitive through full body tracking and co-presence in virtual environments. Moreover, avatars used to present oneself have been shown to have profound meaning and effects on social experiences, on-screen and in VR alike. However, there is still a paucity of research on embodied, immersive VR collaborative experiences, and the influence of avatar customisation on user experiences in such contexts. This exploratory study employed a repeated-measures between-subjects laboratory experiment design (N = 55) to probe the relationships between avatar customisation, individual differences, and emotional outcomes. Primarily through thorough investigation of data using descriptive and visual statistical techniques, the results suggest that allowing for free avatar customisation results in an overall more emotionally positive experience than when a default avatar was provided. Additionally, this effect is significantly driven by those higher in Extraversion and Neuroticism. Finally, these findings shed light on the potential implications of individual differences and avatar customisation in design and further research of collaborative VR.