Avatar shortlist

Draft for Anna's review and PDA community validation.

What this is

Participants choose a small visual representation that travels with them through the scenes. The choice is purely cosmetic. It does not change prompts, scenes, behaviour, or anything in the data model, it is recorded only as a single field on the session row, so we can later check whether choice of skin correlates with anything (or, more likely, confirm that it doesn't).

The point of offering a choice at all is to give the participant agency without demanding anything.

Inclusion criteria

A candidate skin earns its place only if all six are true:

No demand baggage. No achievements, no levels, no implicit completion or hierarchy. A Jedi implies a hierarchy; a fox doesn't.
Works across 8–16. Must not read as babyish to a 16-year-old or intimidating to an 8-year-old.
No gender coding. Every skin is gender-neutral. There is no "boy version" or "girl version" of anything.
Original art. No third-party IP. No "inspired by" that would read as a known franchise. Cleared for university use.
Sensory-considerate. No flashing, no rapid motion, no loud colour. Subtle idle animation only, suppressed under prefers-reduced-motion.
No social-status signal. Avoid aesthetics that map onto particular peer-group cultures (Roblox-blocky-humanoid, branded gaming aesthetics), these introduce between-participant variance that has nothing to do with PDA.

Hard rules for the skin system as a whole

A "no avatar" option is mandatory. For some PDA young people, any representation on screen is too much.
All skins look equally finished. No "starter" and "fancy". No locked skins. No premium framing.
Swappable mid-session at zero friction. One tap, instant change, no confirmation dialog.
Names matter. "Pick something to be" is fine. "Pick your hero" or "Build your avatar" are not.
No naming the avatar. Don't ask the participant to type a name. That is a demand and a self-identification risk.
Skin choice is recorded but never displayed back. No "you chose the fox last time". No history. No streaks.

The shortlist (ten candidates)

The set deliberately spans aesthetics from naturalistic to abstract, and covers the interest categories that the franchise-shaped suggestions (Star Wars / Roblox / Minecraft) were trying to reach, in IP-safe form.

1Woodland creature

Fox, owl, hedgehog, hare, or pine marten. Naturalistic illustration, not cartoon. Animals are a near-universal entry point for PDA young people, and being an animal sidesteps social-self pressure. Probably the most chosen option.

2Marine drifter

Octopus, jellyfish, axolotl, or sea slug. Slow-moving, sensory-calm, visually beautiful. Strong appeal to older participants who'd find a fox skin too cute.

3Forest spirit

Small mossy creature, a wandering mushroom, a bramble sprite. Stylised rather than literal, quietly magical without being twee. Works across the age range because it's not pretending to be real.

4Star or comet

A luminous point that leaves a soft trail. Genuinely abstract. Nothing humanoid to identify with or against. For participants who want some presence on screen but don't want to "be" a character.

5Lantern

A small floating light in a paper or glass shell. Warm, undemanding, easy to relate to as "the bit of me that's here." Subtle palette variation built in.

6Geometric shape

A slow-rotating polygon, a smooth blob, a soft cube. Pure abstraction for participants who reject character framing entirely. Important to keep in the set, protects the participants for whom any anthropomorphic avatar is too much.

7Mechanical companion

A small clockwork creature or quiet little robot. Often resonates with participants who like systems and predictability. Keep it gentle: think wind-up music box, not mech.

8Mythical creature

A small dragon, a phoenix chick, a griffin kit. Special-interest territory for many young people. Drawn in the same restrained illustration style as the rest of the world; not cartoony.

9Space wayfarer

Small figure in a soft suit and quiet helmet, drifting between scenes. Fills the sci-fi/exploration interest space without invoking any specific franchise. No weapons, no mythology baggage, just a calm explorer.

10Pixel character

A deliberately retro 16-bit style figure. Covers the gaming-aesthetic interest space without invoking any live franchise. Old-school enough to feel its own thing.

Categories that were excluded and why

Star Wars / Jedi / lightsabers. Disney/Lucasfilm IP. Carries strong hierarchy and combat baggage that contradicts the project's design.

Roblox-style blocky humanoid. Roblox Corp IP and visual identity. Even "inspired by" reads as Roblox. Heavy peer-group social signalling.

Minecraft-style player character. Mojang/Microsoft IP. Aesthetic is inseparable from the game's achievement and inventory loops.

Knight or wizard in fantasy-RPG style. Reads as RPG class system, which imports level/progression expectations.

Custom-build-your-character. Body customisation, hair, clothing sliders. Adds demand, introduces self-identification risk, centres physical appearance.

Photo-realistic human avatar. Centres physical appearance, raises representation questions out of scope, runs against the calm illustrated aesthetic.

Open questions for Anna

Validation method. How will we test these with PDA young people before locking the set? Pilot interviews, advisor panel, social-media ask via PDA Society?
Default state. What does the screen show before the participant has chosen? A neutral placeholder, a randomly assigned skin, or no avatar until they pick?
Where does the chooser live? First-time-only at session start, or permanently accessible? Recommendation: permanently accessible.
Art style. Who illustrates these? External illustrator familiar with PDA-friendly design, or commission through York's art department?
Cultural representativeness. The naturalistic woodland creatures list is UK-centric. Worth a stakeholder check.
Should the set start smaller? Ten options is itself a lot. We could ship with five for the first cohort. The "no avatar" option has to be in from day one regardless.

Build dependency. The skin system can be built before any of these questions are answered. The data model only needs one field. The chooser UI can render a placeholder grid for now and have real art dropped in later. So this doc gates the art commission, not the build.