Audio Matters Too: How Audial Avatar Customization Enhances Visual Avatar Customization

TL;DR

This study investigates how audial avatar customization, alongside visual customization, influences user engagement and motivation in a gaming context, revealing that sound choices enhance avatar identification and autonomy, but less strongly than visual choices.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that audial customization positively impacts avatar identification and autonomy, highlighting its role alongside visual customization in digital avatar design.

Findings

Audial choice increases avatar identification and autonomy.

Visual choice leads to higher engagement and motivation.

Audial customization has a weaker but significant effect compared to visual customization.

Abstract

Avatar customization is known to positively affect crucial outcomes in numerous domains. However, it is unknown whether audial customization can confer the same benefits as visual customization. We conducted a preregistered 2 x 2 (visual choice vs. visual assignment x audial choice vs. audial assignment) study in a Java programming game. Participants with visual choice experienced higher avatar identification and autonomy. Participants with audial choice experienced higher avatar identification and autonomy, but only within the group of participants who had visual choice available. Visual choice led to an increase in time spent, and indirectly led to increases in intrinsic motivation, immersion, time spent, future play motivation, and likelihood of game recommendation. Audial choice moderated the majority of these effects. Our results suggest that audial customization plays an important enhancing role vis-\`a-vis visual customization. However, audial customization appears to have a weaker effect compared to visual customization. We discuss the implications for avatar customization more generally across digital applications.