Nods of Agreement: Webcam-Driven Avatars Improve Meeting Outcomes and Avatar Satisfaction Over Audio-Driven or Static Avatars in All-Avatar Work Videoconferencing

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that webcam-driven animated avatars enhance meeting effectiveness and participant satisfaction over static or audio-driven avatars in videoconferencing, suggesting a promising alternative to traditional video calls.

Contribution

The paper provides empirical evidence that webcam-animated avatars improve meeting outcomes and satisfaction, highlighting the importance of holistic motion over realism in avatar design.

Findings

Webcam-animated avatars increased meeting effectiveness.

Participants preferred webcam animation for its holistic motion.

Meaningful movement in avatars outweighs realism for positive outcomes.

Abstract

Avatars are edging into mainstream videoconferencing, but evaluation of how avatar animation modalities contribute to work meeting outcomes has been limited. We report a within-group videoconferencing experiment in which 68 employees of a global technology company, in 16 groups, used the same stylized avatars in three modalities (static picture, audio-animation, and webcam-animation) to complete collaborative decision-making tasks. Quantitatively, for meeting outcomes, webcam-animated avatars improved meeting effectiveness over the picture modality and were also reported to be more comfortable and inclusive than both other modalities. In terms of avatar satisfaction, there was a similar preference for webcam animation as compared to both other modalities. Our qualitative analysis shows participants expressing a preference for the holistic motion of webcam animation, and that meaningful movement outweighs realism for meeting outcomes, as evidenced through a systematic overview of ten thematic factors. We discuss implications for research and commercial deployment and conclude that webcam-animated avatars are a plausible alternative to video in work meetings.