Home > Journals > CAIS > Vol. 34 (2014)
Abstract
This paper examines the determinants of friendship between two users in a virtual world who are unaware of each other's real identities. Drawing on theories of homophily, heterophily and propinquity, three virtual world behaviours are analysed: avatar appearance, avatar location, and avatar communication. Data are collected on 179 participants interacting in a novel virtual world. The main results show that: (1) avatars did not tend to form friendships with avatars that are similar in appearance to themselves but did tend to form friendships with avatars that are dressed differently from themselves; (2) in terms of location, the closer an avatar stands to other avatars, the more likely the avatar is to receive a friend invitation; and (3) the fewer words an avatar uses in communication, the more likely the avatar is to receive a friend invitation. This paper contributes to theories of virtual world interaction and to using virtual worlds as a data collection platform.
Recommended Citation
Chesney, Thomas; Chuah, Swee-Hoon; Hui, Wendy; Hoffmann, Robert; and Larner, Jeremy
(2014)
"Determinants of Friendship in Social Networking Virtual Worlds,"
Communications of the Association for Information Systems:
Vol. 34, Article 72.
Available at:
http://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol34/iss1/72
