We have been investigating the impact of anonymity provided by avatars on emotional communication and self-disclosure. In a recent study done at the Institute for Creative Technology, University of Southern California (Kang, Watt,& Gratch, 2009), researchers found that increasing the levels of anonymity from none (full visual identification), to intermediate (a graphical avatar), to full (providing no visual representation at all), had two opposing effects: it decreased the sense of emotional connection while at the same time increasing the amount of self-disclosure of intimate information that an individual was willing to share.
Dianne Rees on 09 Jun 11"This website aims to provide a portal and network to meet the needs of clinicians, researchers and educators in the healthcare community who want to integrate games and simulation into their scholarship and patient care strategy. This resource also welcomes healthcare consumers, advocates, and others interested in patient and clinician education, and clinical research taking advantage of games and simulation-based learning."
