Redefining the proximal type: Understanding the virtual self in online videogame players

Abstract With the surge of virtual identity usage in online environments, understanding the psychological function of this use is becoming more relevant. A typology for virtual-self construal in online videogame players has recently received empirical support, and this revision helps in further defining one of its categories (the proximal type) based on the original article’s data and previous literature. While it does not replace the category’s key characteristics, the definition we offer in this report is more precise and considers all three variables that characterize the original typology, instead of just one, as in the previous definition. Thus, the proximal type is characterized by a low discrepancy between an individual’s actual, ideal, and virtual selves, making all three elements of the self similarly close to each other. This type of virtual self has the function of extending one’s identity into a virtual environment to interact with it, and other users while maintaining the offline self.