%0 Journal Article
%T Avatar as Second Suit: Power and Participation in Virtual Work
%A Stina Bengtsson
%J Games and Culture
%@ 1555-4139
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1555412017710616
%X This article provides an analysis of the experiences of user¨Cavatar relations and interaction of people who work in a virtual world. Earlier research often claims that relationships between users and their avatars are, by nature, strong and intense. By analyzing individuals who conducted paid labor in a number of public institutions in a virtual world, this article argues that the frame of work heavily influenced the professional users¡¯ experiences of using an avatar. The user¨Cavatar relationship was mainly related to how and why the user entered the virtual world, their position in their off-line and online workplaces and, as a result, related to aspects of power and control over the framing of the online arena. Because of these factors, many of the professional users regarded their avatar more as a second suit than, as has often been argued, a second self
%K virtual work
%K virtual worlds
%K labour
%K avatar
%K Second Life
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1555412017710616