Avatars are edging into mainstream videoconferencing, but evaluation of how avatar animation modalities contribute to work meeting outcomes has been limited. We report a within-group videoconferencing experiment in which 68 employees of a global technology company, in 16 groups, used the same stylized avatars in three modalities (static picture, audio-animation, and webcam-animation) to complete collaborative decision-making tasks. Quantitatively, for meeting outcomes, webcam-animated avatars improved meeting effectiveness over the picture modality and were also reported to be more comfortable and inclusive than both other modalities. In terms of avatar satisfaction, there was a similar preference for webcam animation as compared to both other modalities. Our qualitative analysis shows participants expressing a preference for the holistic motion of webcam animation, and that meaningful movement outweighs realism for meeting outcomes, as evidenced through a systematic overview of ten thematic factors. We discuss implications for research and commercial deployment and conclude that webcam-animated avatars are a plausible alternative to video in work meetings.
@inproceedings{ma2025nods,
author = {Ma, Fang and Zhang, Ju and Tankelevitch, Lev and Asadi, Torang and Hewitt, Charlie and Panda, Payod and Petikam, Lohit and Gillies, Marco and Pan, Xenui and Rintel, Sean and Wilczkowiak (SHE/HER), Marta},
title = {Nods of Agreement: Webcam-Driven Avatars Improve Meeting Outcomes and Avatar Satisfaction Over Audio-Driven or Static Avatars in All-Avatar Work Videoconferencing},
booktitle = {CSCW 2025},
year = {2025},
month = {October},
publisher = {ACM},
url = {https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/nods-of-agreement-webcam-driven-avatars-improve-meeting-outcomes-and-avatar-satisfaction-over-audio-driven-or-static-avatars-in-all-avatar-work-videoconferencing/},
}