Filed under: Research by Digado

In all on-line community’s, whether its games, forums, networking sites, or a metaverse such as Second Life, there is always a digital representation of you. The user. Sometimes we expect this representation to be accurate (myspace, oorkut), sometimes we accept this representation is inaccurate to the real life (RL) situation, such as in games (World of Warcraft).

I think the overall tendency is that we accept the avatar to be just a reflection of what we wish to express trough the application the avatar is a part of. It’s not you, even on the more accurate social networking sites. This is largely due to the fact we can place, or withhold any information we want. Apart from it not being very trustworthy as the source of information is usually one-sided and anonymous. Even with true information you can make yourself out to be completely different then you really are. We will always tell or show what we want people to know about us, what we want to hide remains easily hidden.

According to Wikipedia the term ‘avatars’ originates from:

The word “avatar” derives from the Sanskrit word Avatāra, meaning “incarnation” and usually refers to the deliberate descent of an immortal or divine being into the mortal realm for a special purpose. The term is used primarily in Hindu texts. For example, Krishna is the eighth avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu the Preserver, whom many Hindus worship as God. The Dasavatara are ten particular “great” incarnations of Vishnu.

I think its ironic how today we see an avatar as being a representation of our mortal form (the real you), into an immortal realm (the digital world). These ‘new’ modern day avatars are seen in various different internet media:

Forums:

Forums are usually limited to a nickname an image you think will tell others something about you you want them to know, and a signature. Most forum avatars are genderless, they don’t tell you much about the person unless you start reading his or her comments. The information we have about the person talking is very limited and is largely based on content. What he or she knows or tells defines the person behind the Avatar.

Games:

Games usually don’t ask a lot of information about who you are, and its certainly not represented in your avatar. Your name is a nickname, the visual representation is pre-defined by the game itself and unless you specifically choose to, nothing like who you are. No one would be surprised if the female ‘orc’ warlock ‘Wendy the Dreadful’ turns out to be Steve, a 18 years old boy working at Wallmart in the weekends. The expectancy of the accuracy of the avatar in relation to real life is low.

Social Networking sites:

Facebook, mySpace, Flickr, and other social networking sites offer you countless opportunities to express yourself. Besides real name, location age and gender you are asked for you favortie books, movies, hobbies, and there is a tendency to share pictures or personal conversations. The expectancy of the accuracy of the information you provide is high. What you do or did, what you look like and your geological / demographical data tells people who the person behind the avatar is.

Metaverses:

Now we enter the grey area. Is a metaverse such as Second Life a game, or is it a social networking application? I think this lies at the heart of whether you think there is a general acceptance amongst the users of the metaverse to ‘lie’ to each other. In other words, provide inaccurate information trough your avatar, or you think the avatar is always an expression of yourself, and expect the same level of honesty of your ‘peers’.

Someone who did extensive research on the avatar as a psycological interface is Nicky Yee. You can read his findings at http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/

Posted on: December 17, 2007 | Share on: