Avatar Type, Self-Congruence, and Presence in Virtual Reality

Avatars serve as users' virtual identities and hold a significant role in shaping the user experience within the realm of Virtual Reality (VR). The appearance of individual avatars and the perceived self-congruence within the environment are likely to influence users' perceived presence in VR. In this paper, we present a study that investigates four types of avatars in VR: anime, human, animal, and item. Participants were asked to choose an avatar before entering a virtual environment (classroom, gallery, cafe, street, and forest) populated with avatars of different types and to evaluate their perceived self-congruence within the environment and the perceived presence. Our study results showed no significant difference in presence when users use different avatars. However, there is a correlation between users' perceived self-congruence and social presence. We discuss the findings and provide suggestions for the future use of avatars in VR.