Identity Try-Ons

We’re more malleable than we think. Far from being fixed, our identities become a strategic art form in the metaverse, allowing for creativity, innovation, and self-exploration in ways that were previously challenging.

Students step into avatars of different professions to explore which one fits best. Professionals use them to dial certain skills up and down, using different avatars for different tasks and to switch mindsets. Want to feel more creative? Try a licensed Einstein or Lizzo avatar for a day. Not sure about your gender? Use different avatars to explore what feels right. You can even pick up new habits like exercising simply by seeing your avatar perform them.

Just be careful of malicious avatars that are designed to lead you down dark paths.

Evidence:

• Engineering students engaged in increased creativity in ideation after being immersed in a VR environment where they were embodied in an avatar resembling an inventor.

• Subjects exposed to aged avatars put nearly twice as much money into the retirement fund as the other people.

• Subjects who watched their avatars running were motivated to exercise, on average, a full hour more than the others.