The Paradox of Customization: Negotiating racial identity with "multiple choice" in avatar creation

In social virtual reality platforms avatars represent users and allow them to interact with others. These avatars can be customized to represent users’ identities. Character creation interfaces (CCIs) offer a wealth of customization options, but is increased choice sufficient to address known disparities in representation? This article utilizes the Values at Play framework to understand how users identify and respond to the values embedded in CCIs when creating avatars with a connection to their physical-world identity. Sixteen individuals familiar with CCIs created an avatar for a job interview to be held in virtual reality (VR). Participants chose between Adobe Fuse and FaceGen to create photorealistic avatars. The avatar creation experience was followed by in-depth interviews. We found participants’ underwent experiences of identity recognition, negotiation, and authentic ambiguity during avatar customization. The experience of creating their avatars illustrate the paradox of customization, in which more choice can lead to less satisfaction. We discuss implications for our collective understanding of VR avatar-based identity construction with CCIs.