Avatar identification in serious games – The role of avatar identification in the learning experience of a serious game Oksanen, K., Van Looy, J., De Grove, F. iMinds-MICT-Ghent University Oksanen, K., Van Looy, J., De Grove, F. (2013, 17 June).Avatar identification in serious games: The role of avatar identification in thelearning experience of a serious game. The Power of Play: Motivational Uses and Applications. Pre-Conference to the 63rd International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference, London, UK. Game enjoyment in serious games has been shown to be an essential factor in the learning process (Fu, Su & Yu, 2009). This is often linked with the trend of current learning theories to emphasize the active role of the learner in their own learning process (Boyle, Connolly & Hainey, 2011). From this point of view, enjoyment in serious games should be seen as a prerequisite and trigger for intrinsic motivation and thus for an effective learning process. According to Fu et al. (2009) in an effective educational game, the learners’ enjoyment acts as a catalyst encouraging them stay engaged. In most cases, enjoyment and engagement have been explained through concepts such as flow (Csiskzentmihalyi, 1991) and immersion (Ermi & Mäyrä, 2005). However it has been proposed that, in addition to these two concepts, player identification can be an essential mechanism of game enjoyment and engagement. Identification is a concept which has been used in the context of media research to explore their attractiveness. Identification with fictional characters has been researched for decades and has been found to be one of the main factors why people enjoy the use of different kinds of media (Cohen, 2006). In general terms identification refers to the mental process whereby a media user takes the role of a media character and imaginarily experiences their emotions and cognitions (Konijn & Hoorn, 2005). However, identification in games is a fundamentally different phenomenon from identification in other media (Klimmt, Hefner & Vorderer, 2009). One key factor that differentiates identification with a game character is the interactivity of the game (Hefner, Klimmt & Vorderer, 2007). In a game, the player has the possibility or is even required to act through the game character and influence the progress of the game. Identification with a game character (i.e., avatar identification) in digital games is a relatively new area of interest (Hefner et al., 2007). Klimmt et al. (2009, 351) define video game identification “as a temporal shift in the player’s self-perception through adoption of valued properties of the game character”. Identification in the context of games is a multidimensional phenomenon, which can be further subdivided into three dimensions, namely 1) avatar identification, 2) group identification and 3) game identification (Van Looy, Courtois, De Vocht &De Marez, 2012). Avatar identification is related to the player-character bond in digital games. Group identification and game identification are more related to the social dimensions of online game play whereby group identification refers to the player’s identification with their in-game groups, whereas game identification refers to player’s association with the game itself and, in addition, the community around the game (Van Looy et al., 2012). As the game used in current study is single-player we will not go any deeper into the social identification dimensions, but rather focus on avatar identification, which is further subdivided into three sub-categories: similarity identification, wishful identification and embodied presence.