How to be a gamer! Exploring personal and social indicators of gamer identity

Over the past decades, digital games have continued to extend their audience as they moved into the cultural mainstream. Despite this fact, however, only a portion of those who play games consider themselves a gamer. Drawing on insights from social identity theory, this study explores the factors that contribute to why people attribute a gamer identity to self or others. It does so by considering 2 sites of identity construction: the social context of players and the broader cultural milieu. Results suggest that a gamer identity is first and foremost associated with stereotypical behaviors that find their origin in a consumption logic. Friendship networks, however, provide an important environment in which a gamer identity can be performed.     

Gender Differences in Motivations for Identity Reconstruction on Social Network Sites

Social network sites provide people a unique opportunity for self-presentation. Due to various reasons, people may build an online identity that is partly or even completely different from their identity in the real world. Adopting social role theory as the theoretical foundation, the current study investigated gender differences in the motivations for virtual identity reconstruction on QQ, a social network site based in China. A total of 418 respondents participated in the study. As hypothesized, the results showed that men and women are motivated differently when reconstructing their identity – while women focus more on physical vanity, men emphasize achievement vanity. The authors also identified gender differences in other motivations for online identity reconstruction: bridging social capital, disinhibition, and privacy concerns. The results, which suggest that men and women behave in gender-specific ways, are in line with the propositions made in social role theory.     

Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment

This study investigates self-presentation strategies among online dating participants, exploring how participants manage their online presentation of self in order to accomplish the goal of finding a romantic partner. Thirty-four individuals active on a large online dating site participated in telephone interviews about their online dating experiences and perceptions. Qualitative data analysis suggests that participants attended to small cues online, mediated the tension between impression management pressures and the desire to present an authentic sense of self through tactics such as creating a profile that reflected their "ideal self," and attempted to establish the veracity of their identity claims. This study provides empirical support for Social Information Processing theory in a naturalistic context while offering insight into the complicated way in which "honesty" is enacted online.     

Accomplishing authenticity in a labor-exposing space

The present work, through an ethnographic study of MySpace (N = 96), examines the ways in which authenticity is accomplished within a labor-exposing space. To maintain authenticity, actors must make invisible the extensive labor of self-presentation. Certain online spaces, such as social network sites and personal interactive homepages, can be thought of as labor-exposing spaces, in that they give actors clear and explicit control over self-representations, making impressions of spontaneity difficult to accomplish ( ,  and ). I discuss and delineate several strategies used by participants to maintain authenticity on MySpace. I conclude that while the priorities of identity processes remain stable over time, the ways in which we accomplish identity are culturally, historically and materially contingent.     

“Come on momma,let’s see the drummer”: movement-based interaction and the performance of personal style

Interaction forms are beginning to make more use of the way we move our bodies in the physical and social world. This paper aims to contribute to a new generation of personal computing by showing how the medium of everyday clothing and dress can bring valuable perspectives to the study of human embodiment and movement. The author refers to ideas from fashion theory and clothing design that can contribute to a richer understanding of the many influences that convene emotions of style and identity. In order to indicate the potential of personal style as a social medium with relevance to human computer interaction (HCI), some existing artefacts that entail interaction through movement are referenced, along with research outcomes from biomechanics, dance and performance. In conclusion design strategies are constructed for new movement-based interaction concepts that can have relevance to the changing meanings of identity in twenty-first century mass society.

两层架构的可信身份服务平台研究与设计

针对当前网络环境中基于用户真实身份安全管控需求与用户隐私保护需求之间的矛盾,引入主管机构作为可信方,将用户的真实身份管理与虚拟业务账号管理独立开来,建立两层架构的可信身份服务平台。平台通过身份绑定机制,建立用户业务账号与其真实身份之间的映射关系,实现基于真实身份的信任保障;并根据业务的应用场景配置策略为其提供用户属性,以保障用户隐私安全。     

The psychological functions of avatars and alt(s): A qualitative study

Prior research has shown that approximately 50% of active participants in the 3D virtual world of Second Life have one or more secondary avatars or “alts” in addition to their primary avatar. Thus, these individuals are operating a “multiple or poly-identity system” composed of a physical self, a primary avatar, and one or more alts. However, little is known about the functions these virtual identities serve for the virtual-world user. The current study involved qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with Second Life participants (N = 24) who had a primary avatar and at least one alt. Interviews were coded to examine the functions that primary avatars and alts served. Eight functions—seven suggested by previous research on virtual world identity and one that emerged from analyses—were reflected in a large majority of the transcribed interviews and are described in the article. The current findings add to our understanding of how multifaceted identity systems operate, as more individuals augment their physical self with a set of virtual identities.     

HCI as heterodoxy: Technologies of identity and the queering of interaction with computers

As digital technologies are woven more closely into identity formation, society needs ways to keep tools flexible to many versions of self-presentation and avoid perpetuating the political status quo through conservative and apolitical designing. This paper explores one route, drawing on Queer Theory to look at resistance to computer formalisation of identity through queering. Several case studies explore how we might apply the oblique route to design of a range of technologies that help users define themselves. In particular, forgetting, obscuring, cheating and eluding are activities held up to counter computer strengths and offer a more flexible vision of interaction design for the future.     

Player–Avatar Identification in video gaming: Concept and measurement

This paper aims to develop an instrument to measure Player–Avatar Identification (PAI) in video game playing. Survey studies were conducted with over 1000 students in Singapore primary and secondary schools. The results of the studies demonstrated that PAI can be conceptualized and reliably measured in terms of four-factors – feelings during play, absorption during play, positive attitudes toward the game avatar and importance of the avatar to one’s self identity. The four-factor model showed acceptable model data fit and satisfactory reliability and validity. The construct validity was supported by the relationship between PAI and identity style. The result suggested that students with diffused identity style reported significant higher scores on absorption and importance to identity. The usefulness of the concept and the scale was discussed in relation to behavioral and developmental implications.     

A socio‐cognitive interpretation of the potential effects of downsizing on software quality performance

Organizational downsizing research indicates that downsizing does not always realize its strategic intent and may, in fact, have a detrimental impact on organizational performance. In this paper, we extend the notion that downsizing negatively impacts performance and argue that organizational downsizing can potentially be detrimental to software quality performance. Using social cognitive theory (SCT), we primarily interpret the negative impacts of downsizing on software quality performance by arguing that downsizing results in a realignment of social networks (environmental factors), thereby affecting the self‐efficacy and outcome expectations of a software professional (personal factors), which, in turn, affect software quality performance (outcome of behaviour undertaken). We synthesize relevant literature from the software quality, SCT and downsizing research streams and develop a conceptual model. Two major impacts of downsizing are hypothesized in the conceptual model. First, downsizing destroys formal and informal social networks in organizations, which, in turn, negatively impacts software developers' self‐efficacy and outcome expectations through their antecedents, with consequent negative impacts on software development process efficiency and software product quality, the two major components of software quality performance. Second, downsizing negatively affects antecedents of software development process efficiency, namely top management leadership, management infrastructure sophistication, process management efficacy and stakeholder participation with consequent negative impacts on software quality performance. This theoretically grounded discourse can help demonstrate how organizational downsizing can potentially impact software quality performance through key intervening constructs. We also discuss how downsizing and other intervening constructs can be managed to mitigate the negative impacts of downsizing on software quality performance.     

身份托管方案研究

身份托管是在Kilian和Petrank于1998年提出的一种新的身份鉴定形式。在身份托管过程中，示证者A不将身份暴露给验证B，而是提供可以由授权第三方E鉴定出身的信息。同时，B得到E可以根据这些信息鉴定出A身份的保证。本文提出了一种新的满足所有必要特性的身份托管方案。和已有的方案相比，该方案的优点是：既满足不可假冒性，又满足可分离性。此外，在该方案中，每个示证者只需要一个证书，从而提高了效率。     

How to unite the power of the masses? Exploring collective stickiness intention in social network sites from the perspective of knowledge sharing

This study aims to investigate users’ knowledge-sharing intention and collective stickiness intention towards social network sites (SNS). SNS offer an opportunity for users to interact and form relationships, while knowledge is accrued by integrating users’ information, experience, and practice. However, there have been few systematic studies that question why people use SNS to share knowledge. We adopt social capital theory, social identity theory, as well as use and gratification theory, to explore the determinants of members’ knowledge-sharing intention in using SNS. The survey was conducted on two education virtual communities (VCs) on Facebook, of which most members were teachers and educators. Data analysis was executed to validate our research model, and SmartPLS was used to analyse users’ collective stickiness intention. The results show that social capital and social identity have an impact on teachers’ knowledge-sharing intention, which, in turn, influences collective stickiness intention towards SNS. Our findings can not only help researchers interpret why members share their knowledge in VCs, but can assist practitioners in developing better SNS strategies as well.     

The predictors of users’ satisfaction in an anonymous environment: the role of the negative true self

ABSTRACT

The anonymity of cyberspace enables people to express themselves more freely than in the physical world. Thus, when interacting with others online, some people choose to reconstruct a virtual identity that is partly or even totally different from their physical identity. Using the advanced self-discrepancy theory and the framework of psychological well-being, the current study theoretically modelled the expression of three domains of the self (the ought self, the ideal self and the negative true self) that affects the fulfilment of autonomy and self-acceptance, further influencing people’s overall satisfaction in an anonymous online environment. The data (n?=?837) were collected from QQ, an anonymous social networking platform from China. The results suggested that virtual identity reconstruction in the online world was significantly associated with the fulfilment of autonomy and self-acceptance. Additionally, autonomy and self-acceptance played important roles in shaping user satisfaction.     

Examining knowledge contribution from the perspective of an online identity in blogging communities

Knowledge contribution is one of the essential factors behind the success of blogging communities (BCs). This research studies knowledge contribution behavior in a BC from the perspective of knowledge contributors and their characteristics using the lens of social identity theory. Social identity theory asserts that individuals are fundamentally motivated to present or communicate their identities in everyday social life through behavior. A similar line of reasoning can be used to argue that members of a BC would also be motivated to communicate their online identities through their behavior, that is, through knowledge contribution in the BC. Specifically, this study conceptualized the online identity and examined the effects of its personal (online kindness, online social skills, and online creativity) and social aspects (BC involvement) on knowledge contribution. The data was collected using an online survey from the members of Cyworld, a popular BC in South Korea and a few other countries (members from South Korea were included in this study). The results indicate that both the personal and social aspects of online identity and their interactions significantly influenced knowledge contribution. Based on the findings, this study offers suggestions to organizers of BCs to enhance the knowledge contribution from their members.     

Matrix games with missing,interval, and ambiguous lottery payoffs of pure strategy profiles and compound strategy profiles

In a matrix game, the interactions among players are based on the assumption that each player has accurate information about the payoffs of their interactions and the other players are rationally self‐interested. As a result, the players should definitely take Nash equilibrium strategies. However, in real‐life, when choosing their optimal strategies, sometimes the players have to face missing, imprecise (i.e., interval), ambiguous lottery payoffs of pure strategy profiles and even compound strategy profile, which means that it is hard to determine a Nash equilibrium. To address this issue, in this paper we introduce a new solution concept, called ambiguous Nash equilibrium, which extends the concept of Nash equilibrium to the one that can handle these types of ambiguous payoff. Moreover, we will reveal some properties of matrix games of this kind. In particular, we show that a Nash equilibrium is a special case of ambiguous Nash equilibrium if the players have accurate information of each player's payoff sets. Finally, we give an example to illustrate how our approach deals with real‐life game theory problems.     

Depleted egos and affirmed selves: The two faces of customization

Customization is generally considered a desirable attribute of media technologies, but it also entails the active exercise of choice by the user. Research has shown that constantly making personal choices results in depletion of inner resources required for self-control—a phenomenon known as “ego depletion.” Therefore, we hypothesize a negative effect of customization on self control. But, in doing so, we also consider the possibility that this effect could be mitigated by the affordance of self-expression via customization. So, although making numerous choices could lead to ego-depletion, identity expression could lead to self-affirmation, which is known to counter ego-depletion. The current study explores these two competing effects of customization on one’s inner resources, by way of a three-condition, between-subjects experiment (N = 54), in which one group of participants was instructed to customize their iGoogle portal in a manner that would bolster their self-affirmation and another in a manner that would minimize it, with the third condition serving as a browsing-only control. The results indicate that self-affirmation may compensate for ego depletion, with theoretical implications for the psychology of customization technology and practical implications for design of customization options in media interfaces.     

The mechanism through which members with reconstructed identities become satisfied with a social network community: A contingency model

This study investigates members’ satisfaction with interest-based social network communities from an identity-reconstruction perspective. Drawing upon the self-discrepancy theory and the regulatory focus theory, we theoretically modeled the factors (relating to identity reconstruction) that influence members’ satisfaction with social network communities and further investigated whether these influences on satisfaction are contingent upon how much the virtual identity is reconstructed. Data (n = 1063) were collected from six interest-based social network communities. Results support most main effects and further support two moderating effects. The effect of bridging social capital on satisfaction and the effect of privacy concern on satisfaction are contingent upon identity reconstruction.     

Constructive Sets in Computable Sets

The original interpretation of the constructive set theory CZF in Martin-Loef‘s type theory uses the‘extensional identity types’.It is generally believed that these‘types’do not belong to type theory.In this paper it will be shown that the interpretation goes through without identity types.This paper will also show that the interpretation can be given in an intensional type theory.This reflects the computational nature of the interpretation.This computational aspect is reinforced by an ω-Set moel of CZF.     

一种基于行为效用理论的多移动机器人编队协调方法

本文提出了一种基于行为效用理论的多移动机器人编队协调方法，用于解决多移动机器人编队初始化问题，实现自治的多移动机器人按特定的空间结构进行编队以完成特定的任务．我们对编队问题协调控制策略和算法进行了研究，给出了行为效用方程及两个衡量值，并针对编队问题的协调控制过程中目标点重复决策问题及偏远目标的选择问题进行了探讨并给出了相应的改进协调方案，计算机仿真试验验证了本文所提方法的有效性和可行性．