Alex Krotoski over at the Guardian Gamesblog doesn't think people play ugly avatars in MMORPGs... and she's got a bunch of quotes from a gaggle of slightly illiterate internet strangers and a Google of psychological papers to prove it.

We'll just dismiss this idea right now with one word: Horde. While it's true that you won't see an aesthetically unpleasing avatar in most MMORPGs if you are playing the "good" side, half of all World of Warcraft players wander around as anthropomorphical bovines, rotting corpses, slimy orcs and big-nosed trolls. Which just goes to show that people love to play ugly avatars... as long as they are both ugly and cool looking.

A bigger sociological question might be why ugly is equated with evil, but if you've ever spent the morning yawning into the toilet after catching a sober look at the face of the soused trollop you brought home from the pub the night before, you'll understand the psychological reasonings behind it.

Where are the ugly avatars? [Guardian Gamesblog]