Avatars

“perhaps the body in question is not the physical one at all, but its psychid double, the bodylike self-representation we carry around in our heads.” (Dibbell)

According to Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson, an avatar is the embodiment of a human in digital space that carries out that human’s actions. Neal Stephenson is generally credited with applying the term “avatar” to digital human representations, as he did in Snow Crash.

Avatars can be seen in all of the following:

  • Internet Forums
  • Internet Chat
  • Instant Messaging Programs
  • Blogs
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video Games
  • Other online worlds
In video games, avatars are normally fixed, simply representing the character that the user is playing as. However, in recent years, it has become more the case (especially in online multiplayer games), that players can customize their avatars. Some games allow users to choose their avatars clothing, armor, hair color, body build, etc. However, the most significant fact about avatars is that they can interact with avatars of other people anonymously. This means that avatars can act out in such a way that harms others and there is no accountability for the person behind those avatars. An example of this occurs in shooting games, like Halo, where players engage in an act called Tea-Bagging: after killing an opponent, some people make their avatar repeatedly crouch and stand up over the corpse of the recently deceased avatar, in a humping fashion.
Additionally, oftentimes people treat their relationships with the avatars of other people seriously. This can result in what is known as virtual dating, in which people use their avatars to interact with the avatars of others in a dating environment. The following popular YouTube video by the cast of the web series The Guild satirizes virtual dating:
Further reading: