Public Self-Consciousness and Anticipatory Avatar Customization in Korean Metaverse Platform

This study examines how public self-consciousness influences anticipatory avatar customization in Korean metaverse platform environments. In Study 1, 50 Korean university students created avatars under four conditions using iFland: free creation, private context, public context, and actual-self representation. Study 2 involved 100 independent raters evaluating the public suitability of freely created avatars. Results revealed that 96 percent created avatars differing from their actual appearance. Counterintuitively, individuals with higher public self-consciousness and agreeableness were significantly less likely to modify avatars for public contexts (p < 0.05). Study 2 confirmed that unmodified avatars were rated more suitable for public contexts (p < 0.05), suggesting that socially conscious individuals proactively incorporated appropriateness into initial designs. These preliminary findings suggest that Korean university students' cultural emphasis on social harmony may shape virtual identity through anticipatory rather than reactive customization, though cross-cultural replication with diverse samples is needed to establish the generalizability of these patterns.