The [Object, Me, Symbiote, Other] in the Machine: Insights from Video Game Psychology for Teleoperator-Robot Relations

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemConference contribution

Abstract

Avatars serve as embodied representations of user agency in physical, digital, and mixed realities, extending our physical, cognitive, and perceptual abilities into those spaces. From this perspective, there is a tendency to presume that as users assume control of an avatar, they necessarily psychologically merge with and identify as that entity. Borrowing from video game psychology research into player-avatar relations (PAR) and player-avatar interactions (PAX), we present an argument for considering a broader range of sociality regarding user relations with avatar robots: Seeing avatar robots as Object, Me, Symbiote, and authentically social Others. We extrapolate from PAX measurements to tentatively offer a scale for teleoperator/robot-avatar interaction (TARX) and discuss implications of this extrapolation for more comprehensively understanding a future in which avatar robots are more common.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 57th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2024
EditorsTung X. Bui
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages610-618
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9780998133171
StatePublished - 2024
Event57th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2024 - Honolulu, United States
Duration: Jan 3 2024Jan 6 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference57th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHonolulu
Period1/3/241/6/24

Keywords

  • avatar robots
  • human-computer interaction
  • identification
  • scale development
  • Sociality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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