Based on the research of Dong Dong Li at Nanyang Technological University.
Avatar Identification Test (PAI)
How strongly do you identify with your video game avatar?
Based on the Player-Avatar Identification Scale (PAI) developed by researchers Dong Dong Li, Albert Kien Liau, and Angeline Khoo at Nanyang Technological University in 2013, this test assesses how you relate to the characters you play in video games.
Whether you explore virtual worlds or compete in team matches, your avatar can feel like more than a character you control. Do you share its emotional highs and lows, or see it as an extension of yourself? Enter your responses below to explore the four parts of your avatar identification.
Question 1 of 15
When my character is facing danger in the game, I feel nervous.
| Disagree | Agree |
BACK NEXT
The Player-Avatar Identification Scale (PAI) was developed by psychologists Dong Dong Li, Albert Kien Liau, and Angeline Khoo to examine how video game players connect with their digital characters. In modern interactive gaming, an avatar serves as a player's primary sensory, physical, and social representation within virtual worlds. Rather than treating avatar attachment as a single undifferentiated bond, the PAI framework captures player identification across several distinct psychological facets. This structure helps explain how gamers process emotional reactions, focus their attention, and project aspects of their personal identity into digital spaces.
Avatar identification manifests through distinct experiential dimensions during play. Avatar Emotion involves experiencing real emotional resonance with in-game events, such as feeling genuine nervousness during a high-stakes challenge, sharing joy when achieving a major quest milestone, or feeling disappointed when an avatar is defeated. Game Absorption captures sensory immersion and intense focus, where you become so deeply involved in navigating the virtual world that you temporarily lose awareness of your physical surroundings, and other activity around you while controlling your character on screen.
The remaining dimensions reflect social valuation and personal identity. Avatar Regard reflects positive attitudes, satisfaction, and social pride toward your character, such as feeling proud of playing that character and how other players respond to it in multiplayer settings. Avatar Identity measures the degree to which your digital character reflects or shapes your actual self-concept. High identity scores indicate that you view your avatar as an authentic reflection of who you are, or feel that your experiences playing the character influence your self-perception in daily life.
These facets often diverge because players experience virtual worlds in fundamentally different ways. A player can experience intense Game Absorption while navigating a fast-paced competitive shooter or racing game without developing any Avatar Identity, treating the on-screen character purely as a functional visual tool. Conversely, another player might develop strong Avatar Regard and Avatar Identity by carefully customizing a role-playing protagonist who embodies their personal values, while still remaining fully aware of their living room without deep absorption. Different game mechanics and narrative structures uniquely shape each facet.
The population comparison markers displayed on your results chart are derived from published reference averages collected from a sample of 881 young video game players in Singapore. In that original validation study, the reported mean scores on a five-point response scale were 3.35 for feelings during play, 2.69 for absorption during play, 3.55 for positive attitudes toward the avatar, and 2.86 for importance to identity. The comparison markers are estimates derived from this published sample's averages, not validated population norms, percentiles, or clinical standards. Cultural background, individual gaming habits, and specific game genres naturally lead to diverse identification patterns.
A higher score on this assessment indicates stronger psychological identification with your video game avatar, not greater gaming expertise, emotional fragility, or compulsive gaming behavior. This assessment calculates individual facet scores alongside an item-weighted overall avatar identification total supported by the paper's second-order model. The paper reports the four facet averages, while this site derives the total from all fifteen responses. This test is designed solely for educational, personal, and self-exploratory purposes and does not provide a psychological diagnosis or clinical assessment. It is based on the Player-Avatar Identification Scale and is not affiliated with the original study authors or their academic institutions.
References
- Li, D. D., Liau, A. K., & Khoo, A. (2013). Player-Avatar Identification in video gaming: Concept and measurement. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 257-263.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Avatar Identification Test measure across its questions?
It measures how players relate to their video game characters across Avatar Emotion, Game Absorption, Avatar Regard, and Avatar Identity.
What does an Avatar Identification Test result show about players?
The test results show how strongly a player connects to their game character across four distinct areas of avatar identification.
What is the research basis of the Avatar Identification Test?
This test is based on the Player-Avatar Identification Scale developed by researchers at Nanyang Technological University in 2013.
Can the Avatar Identification Test provide a clinical psychological diagnosis?
No, this self-report test is an educational reflection tool and does not provide any medical or clinical psychological diagnosis.
How should users respond to the Avatar Identification Test items?
Takers should respond honestly according to their actual gaming habits across the fifteen statements to ensure accurate identification scores.
Why Use This Test?
1. Free. This test is completely free to take and delivers your comprehensive identification profile immediately upon completion.
2. Based on a real instrument. This assessment is based on the published Player-Avatar Identification Scale developed by Dong Dong Li, Albert Kien Liau, and Angeline Khoo.
3. Clear results. You will receive a Total Avatar Identification score along with distinct scores across emotional connection, absorption, avatar regard, and identity importance.