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09/12/2008: "Avatar race and attractiveness discrimination has effect on attitudes"

The experiment's moderate request: "Would you teleport to Duda Beach with me and let me take a screenshot of you?" In the DITF condition, that request was preceded by a request of the avatar to have screenshots taken in 50 different locations -- requiring about two hours of teleporting and traveling.

In one of the most striking findings, the effect of the DITF technique was significantly reduced when the requesting avatar was dark-toned. The white avatars in the DITF experiment received about a 20 percent increase in compliance with the moderate request; the increase for the dark-toned avatars was 8 percent.

"For decades, research has shown that the outcome of that reciprocity-inducing technique is affected by how the requester is perceived, whether a person -- or in this case an avatar -- is deemed worthy of impressing," said Gardner.

The finding is consistent with studies in the real world as well as the few in the virtual world that clearly demonstrate that physical characteristics, such as race, gender and physical attractiveness, affect judgment of others.

[ So any ugly dark people on Second Life had better choose sexy white avatars then? ]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080909074104.htm