The Paradox of Customization: Negotiating racial identity with "multiple choice" in avatar creation Swati Pandita 1 , Lee Humphreys 2 , Andrea Stevenson Won 2 1 Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; 2 Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA. Author note Correspondence regarding this manuscript should be addressed to Swati Pandita (spandita@caltech.edu), Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd, MC 114-96, 91125, USA.