Education

Ph.D. Communication, Stanford University, 2007.

B.A. Psychology (Honors) with a concentration in Computer Science, Haverford College, 2001

Dissertation

The Proteus Effect: Behavioral Modification via Transformations of Digital Self-Representation (pdf)

Research Interests

Self-Representation and Social Interaction in Virtual Environments

Employment History

Co-Founder & Analytics Lead, Quantic Foundry, Sunnyvale, CA. 02/14 - Present.

Senior Research Scientist, Ubisoft, San Francisco, CA. 08/12 - 01/14.

Member of Research Staff , Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA. 09/07 - 07/12.

Research Assistant, Department of Communication, Stanford University, CA. 09/03 - 09/09.

Virtual Worlds Expert, Qwest Communications. 09/07 - 12/08.

Business Analyst, Sony Online Entertainment, San Diego, CA. 09/06 - 08/07.

Research Assistant, Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA. 09/05 - 08/07.

Summer Intern, Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA. 06/05 - 09/05.

Consultant, Seriosity, Palo Alto, CA. 06/2004 - 10/2006.

Summer Intern, Advanced Interactive Systems, Monterey, CA. 06/04 - 09/04.

Research Assistant, Accenture Technology Labs, Accenture, Chicago, IL. 07/01 - 03/03.

Book

Yee, N. (2014) The Proteus Paradox: How Online Games and Virtual Worlds Change Us--And How They Don't. Yale University Press. Amazon Link

Refereed Journal Articles

Schiano, D., Nardi, B., Debeauvais, T., Ducheneaut, N., & Yee, N. (in press). The "Lonely Gamer" Revisited. Entertainment Computing. PDF

Yee., N., Ducheneaut, N., & Nelson, L. (2012). Online Gaming Motivations Scale: Development and Validation. Proceedings of CHI 2012, 2803-2806. PDF, implementation guide

Yee, N., Ducheneaut, N., Shiao, H.T., & Nelson, L. (2012). Through the Azerothian Looking Glass: Mapping In-Game Preferences to Real World Demographics. Proceedings of CHI 2012, 2811-2814. PDF

Shen, J., Brdiczka, O., Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N. and Begole, B. (2012). Inferring personality of online gamers by fusing multiple-view predictions. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 7379/2012, pp. 261-273. PDF

Ducheneaut, N. and Yee, N. (2012). Les jeux vidéo en ligne, un miroir de la personnalité des internautes? Questions de Communication, 21, pp. 49-72. PDF

Yee., N., Ducheneaut, N., Nelson, L., & Likarish, P. (2011). Introverted Elves and Conscientious Gnomes. The Expression of Personality in World of Warcraft. Proceedings of CHI 2011, 753-762. PDF

Yee, N., Ducheneaut, N., Yao, M., & Nelson, L. (2011). Do Men Heal More When in Drag? Conflicting Identity Cues Between User and Avatar. Proceedings of CHI 2011, 773-776. PDF

Yee, N., Harris, H., Jabon, M., & Bailenson, J.N. (2011). The Expression of Personality in Virtual Worlds. Social Psychology and Personality Science, 2, 5-12. PDF

Harris, H., Bailenson, J.N., Nielsen A. & Yee, N. (2009). The evolution of social behavior over time in Second Life. PRESENCE: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 18 (6), 294-303. PDF

Yee, N., Ellis, J., & Ducheneaut, N. (2009). The Tyranny of Embodiment. Artifact, 2, 1-6. PDF

Williams, D., Consalvo, M., Caplan, S., & Yee, N. (2009). Looking for gender (LFG): Gender roles and behaviors among online gamers. Journal of Communication, 59, 700-725. PDF

Yee, N. & Bailenson, J.N. (2009). The Difference Between Being and Seeing: The Relative Contribution of Self Perception and Priming to Behavioral Changes via Digital Self-Representation. Media Psychology, 12, 195-209. PDF

Caplan, S., Williams, D., & Yee, N. (2009). Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well-Being Among MMO Players. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 1312-1319. PDF

Johnson, N., Xu, C., Zhao, Z., Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Tita, G., & Hui, P. (2009). Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven by a common team dynamic. Physical Review E, 79, 066117. PDF

Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N., & Ducheneaut, N. (2009). The Proteus Effect: Implications of Transformed Digital Self-Representation on Online and Offline Behavior. Communication Research, 36, 285-312. PDF

Ducheneaut, N., Wen, M., Yee, N., & Wadley, G. (2009). Body and mind: a study of avatar personalization in three virtual worlds. Proceedings of CHI 2009. PDF

Yee, N. (2009). Befriending Ogres and Wood-Elves: Relationship Formation and The Social Architecture of Norrath. Game Studies, 9. Link

Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N. (2008). A method for longitudinal behavioral data collection in Second Life. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments. 17, 594-596. PDF

Williams, D., Yee, N., & Caplan, S. (2008). Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer profile. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 993-1018. Link

Yee, N. & Bailenson, J.N. (2007). The Proteus Effect: The Effect of Transformed Self-Representation on Behavior. Human Communication Research, 33, 271-290. PDF

Bailenson, J.N., Iyengar, S., Yee, N., & Collins, N. (2008). Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72, 935-961. PDF

Bailenson, J.N., & Yee, N. (2007). Virtual interpersonal touch and digital chameleons. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 31, 225-242. PDF

Bailenson, J.N., Yee, N., Blascovich, J., Beall, A.C., Lundblad, N., & Jin, M. (2008). The use of immersive virtual reality in the learning sciences: Digital transformations of teachers, students, and social context. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 17, 102-141. PDF

Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N., Rickertsen, K. (2007). A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of the Inclusion and Realism of Human-Like Faces on User Experiences in Interfaces. CHI 2007 Proceedings, 1-10. PDF [Best Paper Nominee]

Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., Moore, R. (2007). The life and death of online gaming communities: a look at guilds in World of Warcraft. CHI 2007 Proceedings, 839-848. PDF [Best Paper Nominee]

Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N., Urbanek, M., Chang, F., Merget, D. (2007). The Unbearable Likeness of Being Digital: The Persistence of Nonverbal Social Norms in Online Virtual Environments. The Journal of CyberPsychology and Behavior, 10, 115-121. PDF

Bailenson, J.N., Yee, N., Patel, K., & Beall, A.C. (2007). Detecting Digital Chameleons. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 66-87. PDF

Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., Moore, R. (2006). Building an MMO with Mass Appeal: A Look at Gameplay in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1, 281-317. PDF

Williams, D., Ducheneaut, N., Li, X., Zhang, Y., Yee, N., Nickell, E. (2006). From Tree House to Barracks: The Social Life of Guilds in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1, 338-361. PDF

Bailenson, J.N., Yee, N., Brave, S., Merget, D., Koslow, D. (2007). Virtual Interpersonal Touch: Expressing and Recognizing Emotions through Haptic Devices. Human-Computer Interaction, 22, 325-353. PDF

Yee, N. (2006). Motivations for Play in Online Games. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 9, 772-775. PDF, supplementary tables, implementation guide

Yee, N. (2006). The Demographics, Motivations and Derived Experiences of Users of Massively-Multiuser Online Graphical Environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309-329. PDF

Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., and Moore, R.J. (2006). "Alone Together? Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Games." In conference proceedings on human factors in computing systems CHI 2006, pp. 407-416. April 22-27, Montreal, PQ, Canada. PDF [Best Paper Nominee]

Yee, N. (2006). The Labor of Fun: How Video Games Blur the Boundaries of Work and Play. Games and Culture, 1, 68-71. PDF

Bailenson, J.N. & Yee, N. (in press). Virtual interpersonal touch: Haptic interaction and copresence in collaborative virtual environments. International Journal of Multimedia Tools and Applications. PDF

Bailenson, J.N., Yee, N., Merget, D., & Schroeder, R. (2006). The Effect of Behavioral Realism and Form Realism of Real-Time Avatar Faces on Verbal Disclosure, Nonverbal Disclosure, Emotion Recognition, and Copresence in Dyadic Interaction. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments. PDF

Bailenson, J.N., & Yee, N. (2006). A Longitudinal Study of Task Performance, Head Movements, Subjective Report, Simulator Sickness, and Transformed Social Interaction in Collaborative Virtual Environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15(6). PDF

Bailenson, J.N., Garland, P., Iyengar, S., & Yee, N. (2006). Transformed Facial Similarity as a Political Cue: A Preliminary Investigation. Political Psychology, 27, 373-386. PDF

Bailenson, J.N. & Yee, N. (2005). Digital Chameleons: Automatic assimilation of nonverbal gestures in immersive virtual environments. Psychological Science, 16, 814-819. PDF

Refereed Conference Presentations

Debeauvais, T., Nardi, B., Schiano, D.J., Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N. (2011). If you build it they might stay: retention mechanisms in World of Warcraft. 6th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. PDF

Schiano, D.J., Nardi, B., Debeauvais, T., Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N. (2011). A new look at World of Warcraft’s social landscape. 6th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. PDF

Yee, N., & Bailenson, J.N. (2006). Walk A Mile in Digital Shoes: The Impact of Embodied Perspective-Taking on The Reduction of Negative Stereotyping in Immersive Virtual Environments. Proceedings of PRESENCE 2006: The 9th Annual International Workshop on Presence. August 24 - 26, Cleveland, Ohio, USA PDF

Yee, N. (2006). Motivation and Seduction in Online Games. Games, Learning, and Society 2006, Madison, WI, 2006.

Yee, N. (2005). Motivations of Play in MMORPGs. DIGRA 2005, Vancouver, June, 2005.

Yee, N. (2005). The Demographics and Derived Experiences of Users of Massively Multi-User Online Graphical Environments. The 55th International Communicaton Association Annual Conference, New York, May, 2005.

Bailenson, J., Yee, N. (2005). Digital Chameleons: Automatic
Assimilation of Nonverbal Gestures in Immersive Virtual Environments. The 55th International Communicaton Association Annual Conference, New York, May, 2005.

Invited Panelist, Games and Human Interaction: Curriculum and Research. The 55th International Communicaton Association Annual Conference, New York, May, 2005.

Bailenson, J. N., Garland, P., Iyengar, S., Yee, N. (2005, in press) Facial Similarity as a Political Cue. The 55th International Communicaton Association Annual Conference, New York, May, 2005.

Book Chapters

Ducheneaut, N. and Yee, N. (2012). Data collection in massively multiplayer online games: methods, analytic obstacles, and case studies. In Seif El-Nasr, M., Drachen, A., and Canossa, A (eds.). Game Analytics. Springer.

Ducheneaut, N. and Yee, N. (2012). From solitude to ambiant sociability : re-defining the social and psychological aspects of isolation in online games. In Coplan, R.J. and Bowker, J. (eds). A handbook of solitude: Psychological perspectives on social isolation, social withdrawal, and being alone. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Yee, N. (2009). Changing the Rules: Social Architectures in Virtual Worlds. In Bainbridge, W. (Ed.), Online Worlds: Convergence of the Real and Virtual (pp. 213-223). London: Springer. PDF

Yee, N. (2008). Maps of Digital Desires: Exploring the Topography of Gender and Play in Online Games. In Kafai, Y., Heeter, C., Denner, J., & Sun, J. (Eds.), Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming (pp. 83-96). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. PDF

Ducheneaut, N. & Yee, N. (2008). Collective Solitude and Social Networks in World of Warcraft. In C. Romm-Livermore & S. Setzekorn (Eds.). Social Networking Communities and E-Dating Services: Concepts and Implications (pp.78-100). Hershey, New York: Information Science Reference. PDF

Bailenson, J.N. & Yee. N. (2008). Psychology in Communication Processes. In W. Donsbach (Ed.). International Encyclopedia of Communication. Washington, D. C.: International Communication Association.

Bailenson, J.N., Yee, N., Blascovich, J., & Guadagno, R.E. (2008). Transformed Social Interaction in Mediated Interpersonal Communication. In Konijn, E., Tanis, M., Utz, S. & Linden, A. (Eds.), Mediated Interpersonal Communication (pp. 77-99). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. PDF

Bailenson, J.N., Yee, N., Kim, A., & Tecarro, J (2007). Sciencepunk: The influence of informed science fiction on virtual reality research. In, Margret Grebowicz, ed. The Joy of SF: Essays in Science and Technology Studies (pp.147-164). Open Court Publishing. PDF

Yee, N. (2006). The Psychology of MMORPGs: Emotional Investment, Motivations, Relationship Formation, and Problematic Usage. In R. Schroeder & A. Axelsson (Eds.), Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments (pp. 187-207). London: Springer-Verlag. PDF

Workshops and Panels

Invited Keynote Speaker, Southwestern Psychological Association 2013, April 5-7th 2013.

Invited Speaker, Serious Fun, TTI/Vanguard, May 3-4th 2011.

Inivted Panelist, Understanding the Player, GDC 2007, March 5th, 2007.

Invited Participant, Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat, May 7th - 9th, 2006.

Invited Panelist, Methods in Social Game Studies, GDC 2006, March 20th, 2006.

Invited Panelist, Communities and Communication in MMOGs, Spring VON 2006, March 14th, 2006.

Invited Participant, Gaming the World, UIUC, November 15th-16th, 2005.

Invited Participant, Ludium I: Conference on Synthetic Worlds and Academic Research, September 29th - October 1st, 2005.

Invited Panelist, The Sharing Economies of Virtual World, Institute for the Future - Annual Ten-Year Forecast Retreat, Berkeley, April 13th, 2005.

Invited Moderator, Virtual Identity Panel, State of Play II, New York, October 28th-30th, 2004.

Teaching Experience

Virtual People (Teaching Assistant), Stanford University, Spring 2006

Virtual People (Teaching Assistant), Stanford University, Winter 2005

Reviewer for Journals and Conferences

Communication Methods and Measures
Communication Research
Computer Human Interaction (CHI)
CyberPsychology and Behavior
Game Studies
Games and Culture
Graphics Interface
Human Communication Research
Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Presence
Sex Roles
Social Influence
Virtual Reality

Grant Reviewer

National Science Foundation (Human-Centered Computing)
Robert Johnson Foundation (Health Games)

Media / Press

The New York Times - Carey, B. (2008, December 14th). Standing in Someone Else's Shoes, Almost for Real.

New Scientist (2008, May 7th). Eight Ways to Get Exactly What You Want.

Newsweek - Begley, S. (2008, February, 25th). Our Imaginary Hotter Selves.

The Discovery Channel (2007, December 19th). Rise of the Video Game, Level 5.

The New York Times - Boss, S. (2007, September, 9th). Even in a Virtual World, ‘Stuff’ Matters

Science - Miller, G. (2007, September 6th). The Promise of Parallel Universes.

The Wall Street Journal - Alter, A. (2007, August 10th). Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?

CNN International (2007, June 13th). CNN Future Summit.

SF Chronicle - Sturrock, C. (2007, April 29th). Virtual become Reality at Stanford.

Associated Press - Svensson, P. (2007, February 21st). Virtual Men Are Standoffish Too.

Nature.com - Giles, J. (2007, January 5th). Social Sciences: Life's a Game.

Foreign Policy - Chen, C. (2007, January 5th). Virtual Vows.

New York Times - Rosenbloom, S. (2006, November 16th). In Certain Circles, Two is a Crowd.

ABC News - Chu. K. (2006, October 4th). Long Live the Avatar.

Nature.com - Giles, J. (2006, September 11th). Concept of 'personal space' survives in virtual reality.

Beyond the Headlines, Bay Area ABC Affiliate (KGO). (2006, September, 10th). Jennings, C. Online Gaming.

WashingtonPost.com - Khazan, O. (2006, August, 18th). Lost in an Online Fantasy World.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Pearson, M. (2006, June 20th). Online worlds: Gaming role-players build their alter egos.

WMTV local news, Madison NBC affiliate - Ware, J. (2006, June 16th). Video game addicts.

The Wall Street Journal - Kesmodel, D. (2006, June 9th). Online gamers find offline love.

Business Week - Hof, R. (2006, April 21st). My virtual life.

The International Herald Tribune - Crampton, T. (2006, April 9th). Actual advertising in a virtual world.

The New Scientist - Biever, C. (2006, February 25th). For a new personality, click here.

San Francisco Chronicle - Haddock, V. (2006, February 12th). The online danger zone.

The Daytona Beach News - Girardin, K. (2005, December 11th). Gamers balance virtual, real worlds.

Red Herring - Fehrenbacher, K. (2005, November 24th). Gaming death stirs debate.

The Oklahoma Daily - Akins, K., Slater, G., & Son, C. (2005, November 8th). Fantasy fanatics: Massively multiplayer online role-playing games have become very popular.

The Conversation, KUOW, Seattle NPR affiliate - Reynolds, R. (2005, October 14th). Are video games just games?

Christian Science Monitor - Lamb, G. (2005, October 13th). Are multiplayer online games more compelling, more addictive?

Seed Magazine - Wittlin, M. (2005, September 30th). Behavioral mimicry makes the heart grow fonder.

San Antonio Current - Delwiche, A. (2005, August 11th). Online quality time.

Lawrence - Maines, S. (2005, June 4th). Gaming addiction growing.

Wired.com - Poulsen, K. (2005, May 31st). AI Seduces Stanford Students.

CNET - Shim, R. & Borland, J. (2005, May 19th). Can games grow beyond the hard-core set?

The Sunday Times - Uncredited (2005, May 15th). Real money for virtual gold.

The Washington Post - Morin, R. (2005, April 24th). Don't Tell Me Again.

Boulder Weekly - Warner, J. (2005, March 31st). Brave new virtual world.

Maclean's - Snider, M. (2003, March 3rd). Wired to another word: Online games like EverQuest and The Sims have become a new addiction.

The Philadelphia Inquirer - Valenza, J. (2002, December 26th). Gamers are playing, maybe learning, too.

CNET.com - Becker, D. (2002, April 12th). When games stop being fun.

The Washington Post - Schwartz, J. (2000, May 17th). Silicon dreams: Real life and virtual life intersect as technology affects the way we think and live.