• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.419-425
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• 2024

As digital communication gains prominence, there is an increasing trend in uncivil behaviors like rude or hateful comments and the empathetic actions towards them, highlighting the need for social efforts to address these issues. As part of these endeavors, we investigated how avatar feedback in a virtual news portal affects users' empathy towards uncivil comments. We defined both posting and empathizing with uncivil comments as antisocial actions. To this end, we posted socially controversial news in a virtual space and provided feedback in two forms when participants selected uncivil comments: text-only feedback and feedback accompanied by an avatar. We then assessed the impact of this feedback on behavioral conformity, guilt, and self-image concern through surveys. Our results showed that avatar-provided feedback significantly influenced participants' social responses more than text-based feedback. Interaction with avatars notably increased participants' behavioral conformity, guilt, and self-image concern. We concluded that avatar-based interactions can positively influence users' social behaviors and attitudes, suggesting their potential in fostering a more civil and responsible digital communication culture.