How Second Life Affects Real Life2009-08-13 00:00:00In one experiment, published in Human Communication Research last year, researchers assessed how an avatar's attractiveness affected human behavior, both online and off. Thirty-two volunteers were randomly assigned an attractive or unattractive avatar (attractiveness was rated by undergrads in a survey beforehand)
and instructed to look at them in a virtual mirror for 90 seconds. Then they were asked to interac...