Abstract
<p>Self-esteem, and by extension self-concept, is central to how people view themself. A high self-esteem suggests that someone has a positive view of themselves and their behaviours. A low self-esteem suggests that someone is insecure in their self-views and behaviours. The goal of this research was to understand how self-esteem and the type of avatar someone makes (based on their ideal or actual self) predicts ease of avatar creation and the recognizability of the avatar as the person who created it. In a lab-based study, participants created a profile to match either their actual or ideal self in a video game, and answered questions about their self-esteem and avatar creation experience. Results showed that, at lower levels of self-esteem, actual self-avatars were more difficult to make, and ideal self-avatars were less recognizable. There were no differences between ideal and actual self-avatars for participants at higher levels of self-esteem. Implications and future directions are discussed.</p>