경험목적별 메타버스의 아바타 감정표현 사례분석을 통한 방향성 연구 - 게임, 체험, 공연 형태의 대표 플랫폼을 중심으로 -

Abstract

(Background and Purpose) As social, economic, and cultural changes progress with high interest in the metaverse, various academic studies are being conducted on the development of necessary elements, networks, convergence content, and digital humans with technologies used in metaverse platforms. Among them, research on the immersive and realistic expressions of avatar images showing oneself and the other person in the metaverse has been continuously conducted, but research on the emotional expressions of avatars, which are the most important in communication, is insufficient. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to suggest a direction for the emotional expressions of avatars produced centering on non-verbal expression methods in a virtual space classified according to the purpose of experience on metaverse platforms. (Method) Metaverse platforms were classified into experience, game, and performance, which are presented for user participation according to the purpose of experience. In addition, platforms with the largest number of simultaneous users according to the classified purpose of experience were selected as representative cases, and cases of non-verbal emotional expressions according to the purpose of experience were selected in ZEPETO, Roblox, and Ifland platforms. (Results) From the analysis of the cases, it was confirmed that the metaverse platforms currently provide 11 emotional expressions of avatar, such as joy, anger, pride, touching, amazement, sadness, fear, tension, dislike, shyness, and worry, according to the physical and physiological responses of the body. In addition, it was analyzed to derive certain emotions according to type as follows. The game-type needs to derive emotions to feel a sense of achievement and failure, centering on joy and anger, which are the emotions induced to achieve the purpose of the game. The performance-type must derive emotions to feel a sense of belonging and awe, centering on wonder and touching, which are emotions induced by simultaneously watching a desired performance. Finally, the experiential-type needs to derive emotions to feel a sense of expectation and disappointment, centering on tension and fear, which are emotions that are induced to challenge new spaces and experiences. (Conclusions) This study classified the avatars' emotional expressions on the metaverse platforms into 11 types, and obtained the direction in which derived emotional expressions could vary according to the purpose of experience, which suggested that the main emotions of the avatars need to be expressed differently in the metaverse according to the purpose of experience, and that the expressions should be differentiated to show various differences centering on the main emotions. The significance of this study was multiplied by presenting the need for various detailed expressions, classifications, and definitions of emotional expressions in the metaverse according to the purpose of experience.