Predictors included customizability, how the character is perceived (ideal, attractive, similar, real), narrative, immersion, presence, age, time spent playing/playing history, player's psychological characteristics, and perceived performance. Theoretical explanations depended on Cohen's conceptualization of identification with media characters, wishful identification, similarity identification, embodied presence concepts, self-perception, self-discrepancy, and social identity theories. This review investigates theoretical explanations, predictors, and psychological outcomes of identification with game characters. Self-Determination Theory is used to interpret results. Results showed both time and avatar-based customization positively impacted players' identification with their avatars. Data were collected through interviews, surveys and observations. Participants (N = 66) played LotRO either in customization or in no-customization groups for about ten hours in four sessions over two weeks in a controlled lab setting. This mixed method study aims to fill the gap in the identification literature by examining the effects of avatar-based customization on players' identification with and empathy towards their characters in a massively multiplayer online game, Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO). Avatar-based customization has potential to impact player identification by shaping the relationship between the player and the character. Player identification is one of the outcomes of gameplay experiences in these worlds and has been shown to affect enjoyment and reduce self-discrepancy. Games allow players to perceive themselves in alternate ways in imagined worlds.
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