About Face(s)

This was an interesting article on the BBC news site today regarding our psychological responses to the faces of potential rl partners.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7336578.stm

http://www.facelab.org/

Presumably this is also connected to how we try to make the faces of our SL avs appealing to ourselves, and how we might respond to the other avs we meet.

I wonder if the research team have done any work inworld? Lot's of possibilities with different skins and tweaking of sliders and actual, real time interractions.

What does the panel think?

That's fascinating.
A big part of the SL experience for me has been in trying to create what I consider a beautiful avatar. I don't know why I find this pursuit so engrossing. It is incredibly narcissistic.
It's interesting to look at the pics in the Sexy Avi Gallery thread below. Clearly, a "sexy' female face has large eyes, a pointy, almost recessive chin and a certain "sharpness" to it.
Myself, my ideal face is rounder and more fresh-faced, more long term relationship material, than less, I suppose. In RL I could look at Barack Obama's face all day...not a political statement here, just I really love his eyes and his smile!!! (and George Clooney's, definitely.)

Interesting thing, this creating Avatars.........

Some years back I was into making dolls, the soft sculpie kind. After making several my friends commented I had created my own self in half of them. Other friends were making them also and we compared notes. Our dolls looked like us, the creators. So I came to the conclusion we create what is familiar and what we are comfortable with. And what is more comfortable that what we see everyday.

When creating our avatars we create ourselves. Our avatars may have diffenent hair, body shapes, etc. but the bone structure or the skin tone, some major factor of that avatar is you. Even the furries, the dragons......whatever we create for ourselves...somewhere in there is a part of you, the creator.

Psychological? yes. So if one creates an avatar and has to make constant changes one wonders if the creator is not happy with the person that they are. Interesting observation.

/me puts a picture of his avatar next to a picture of him in RL...

Um. I see NO point of resemblance. So I guess the part of the avatar that is like me is... the personality.


Edit: Okay, my avatar and I both wear glasses and wear clothes so we aren't running around naked. But that's about it.

And in RL dog owners don't think they look like their dogs, but we all know they do!

Hmmm...interesting.

Certainly faces are key role in how perceive one another.....but IRL there is much more to what we are seeing and 'reading' then features.....we are seeing expressions....however subtle. Some people are better at reading the emotions of their fellow humans than others. (myself for reasons begun way back in childhood, I am very very good at reading people, character evaluation)

Avatars are a different beast. I have to say I disagree with the big eyes and pointy non-existent chin as being the female standard for attarctive. It's cartoonish and bogus...but it's cute because of what it is. But, I love making avatars, not due to vanity....but due to being an artist. I love the process of creating faces that have realism. I don't go for the cartoon cutie....the challenge of creating a face that looks like a human face is much more interesting. But, that's where it ends with regards to my perception of others.

I don't judge anyone in SL by their avatar. I don't get any kind of reading from their looks, since their looks are stagnent....un-responsive to stimulus given out by the world around them. There isn't much to be gleened from what an avatar looks like, except in the cases where the person has tried to look like themselves. But there again, all you have is a cartoon likeness.

I've seen a lot of drama in SL over the last 14 months and it's usually people relying on some elses ability to 'act' in a virtual world as a pretty avatar. And then they are taken off guard when that person is not who they say they are....or when their behavior becomes unstable. Because....it's not facial features we are readng... it's expression...tiny nuances that we probably don't even realize we pick up on... voice inflections, tones....Aside from voice (if you choose to use it) we get none of this thru SL. So, we are really left to use very raw basic gut instincts......and some people got it and some people don't.

Ah, to be half as lovable looking as my English Springer Spaniel! But, I suppose I'd need her cheery disposition too, in order to look (or bounce) like that.

The problem with that is that a study showed that the closer you get to mimicking realistic human appearance, the more apprehensive and less forgiving people get.

One specific aspect was realism in video games (the other was robots) where people preferred a more "cartoon"-ish model over a (very) realistic model because the realistic model didn't quite move and look as a real human would and wasn't believable where they were quite forgiving of those same flaws in the "cartoon"ish model.

SL is far removed from that "too real for disbelief" but could be food for thought .

My main shape is mostly from a freebie I found on my second day in SL... It's a fine example of what can be found when you search for "Kawaii"... But I did move the face around a bit in a way that gives me an almost mean expression unless I put glasses on. (^_^)

The shape I created *points at Snapzilla link with tall avatar pics now* was just something I put together for if (the big "IF" I ever want to visit a place that would kick my main shape out. I was just aiming for what I think is attractive and I think it has a resemblance to many ideals I have put together from watching way too much Anime. (^_^)

I've settled on my two looks for quite a long time now, only changing outfits and hair. The one magic trick I have is the glasses. I still trying to figure out why I get such a huge reaction on days I go from off to on or on to off. But, somehow, those little round specs make a world of difference to my face. (@_@)

Uncanny Valley? (Which although about robots, goes back to 1906 amazingly enough!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_Valley

I've seen people react this way in SL...however after that dip of being uncomfortable from something unnatural you mention, when it's not confusing anymore, but natural enough again, that apprehension goes away...

I got the impression from the article I read then that they were referring to something that had just been conducted, but it looks about the same as what I read then, yesh. Thankies for the reference .

We sometimes have to come to terms with what we see being not what we expect, and the reverse (exceeded expections). Both can be equally as uncanny.

http://www.movingmannequins.com/new-faces.htm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7nEQo79CrqQ&feature=related

The reactions to the moving realistic mannequins vs. the live models posing as mannequins is almost the same, given the context they are in.

<edit> This is pretty funny:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/197583/

I know dat my avvie is a lot like RL me: same general length and color hair, sane eyes (they're actually directly based on my RL eyeballs), same skin tone, glasses, etc. The difference is one of age, of course

What I find appealing in other avvies is different, though. I don't so much have an opinion on their beauty, so much as how much work was put into them. I like avvies that appear to hvqa taken some time to put together. They show a bit of the person's creativity an interests, I tink.

More'n dis, I tend to find I'm more willing to listen to jes about any avvie, if they have someting worthwhile to say. The "look" becomes secondary sometimes, ya know?



I find I look weird without my glasses on, but dat's cuz my eyes are a bit oversize, to compensate with the way eyes look inside glasses.

Mari