Exploring Avatar Selves in the Metaverse: Consumer Co-Creation of Experiences

Abstract

This study seeks to understand how metaverse users interact with the platform to co-create their experiences and shape altered selves through embodied avatars, further influencing their engagement or disengagement within the platform using social constructionism and narrative identity theory. The paper's uniqueness stems from understanding the developing idea of self in the metaverse using netnography and phenomenological semi-structured interviews. Our research found that co-creating experiences is an ongoing two-way exchange between consumers and platforms in a digital space based on three significant parameters: cognitive (experimenting and informative), conative (the sense of presence) and affective (fun and entertaining). Further, an altered self emerges from this process, which leads to consumer engagement or disengagement with the platform. The paper contributes significantly to the literature on the evolving concept of the self in the metaverse.