That's how I looked 25 years ago! Stereotypicality in avatars of a platform for further education

Professional further education is increasingly taking place online and using immersive 3D environments. In these virtual worlds, avatars are used to represent users. Previous research, mostly in the context of online or video games, has shown that similarity of self and avatar leads to higher satisfaction with one's avatar. A study by the authors that examined the use of avatars in a realworld professional training setting was also able to confirm this relationship. The present study supplements the previous results with information obtained in a qualitative survey on the participants' perception of avatars. Five relevant themes emerged: (1) the gendering of the choices, (2) intersectional aspects, especially regarding the intersection of gender and age, as well as religious affiliation and ethnicity, (3) the social context of avatar use, (4) the general problem of a lack of modification options, and (5) the low perceived similarity to one's own avatar. The results support the findings regarding the importance of self-similarity and avatar identification and shed light on how the design can be improved to enable higher identification.