Avatars Suffer from Lack Of Trust

If you use a computer-generated image, known as an avatar, to represent yourself in Internet chatrooms or gaming: beware.

Avatars that are androgynous are likely to make others feel distrustful of you, New Scientist reports in next Saturday's issue.

University of Connecticut researchers Kristine Nowak and Christian Rauh got paired volunteers to chat to each other by typing messages into a computer.

The test subjects did not meet their partner face to face.

Instead, they were shown an avatars representing that person, with images ranging from "an obviously female" blonde and ones with no clear gender to strong-jawed males, the British weekly says.

When asked to rate their chat partner, the volunteers found that those represented by androgynous avatars were less "credible," a finding supported by a second group of volunteers who were given a glimpse of the avatars and asked to give a trustworthiness rating.

Androgyny makes avatars appear less human, causing a breakdown in trust, and people should consider this when choosing their avatar, say Nowak and Rauh.