Often, scholarship engages single dimensions of identification, yet emerging perspectives reveal that identification is polythetic (PID) – comprising at least six sufficient (but not necessary) mechanisms. The connection between player and avatar is central to digital gaming, with identification assumed to be core to this connection. These results deliver new insights into the strategies behind avatar creation in different contexts and build a basis for future research and practical implications for developers and designers of virtual worlds. Last, the between-participant variance in the avatar’s personality traits was mainly larger than the variance in the ideal self but smaller than the variance in the actual self, indicating a link between avatar creation and social norms. Furthermore, we found an idealised representation of the avatar’s personality traits, which was affected by the specific activity context. We analysed the data of 568 participants and found a high level of congruence between demographical/physical characteristics of the avatar, the actual self, and the ideal self. Participants attributed physical, demographical, and personality characteristics to their avatar for one of six online activity contexts and indicated the same characteristics for their actual and ideal selves. The present study addresses this empirical gap by examining (1) the self-representation of physical, demographical, and personality characteristics through avatars, (2) differences in self-representation between various online activity contexts, and (3) between-participant variance in ascribed personality traits. Though, studies comparing avatar creation for a wide variety of activity contexts are still missing. Previous research indicates that avatar creation depends on the activity context for which the avatar is created. One main motive for creating avatars is the representation of one’s own identity. Due to its prominent role in online social networks, avatar creation has become an important research topic in the field of computer-mediated communication.

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