Week 3: I Am Not An Avatar!

From what I have read and personally experienced in the realm of VR environments, avatars can be summed up thus: There are no strict rules. People might use all kinds of justifications for making themselves look like a buff fireman or an oozing slime monster. But given the huge smorgasbord of faces, eyes, bodies and clothes presented by avatar-building applications, it seems peoples' choices are driven either by reckless clicking to see what looks cool, or making an avatar that resembles a slimmer version of their real selves. If given the option, most users will resort to simply picking from a small range of predetermined templates, throw on a pair of sunnies, and be done with it. Such is my experience.

(Note that I do not include gaming avatars here, because the design of these are driven by role playing and game mechanics far more than simple social interaction.)

Findings like those of Dean are interesting in their own right, and may find some application in the future -- but their time has not come yet. Why not? Because the vast majority of Internet users do not engage in 3D virtual environments. Although places like Second Life boast millions of accounts, daily usage ranks far below social sites like Facebook. It appears most internet users content themselves with the flat, 2D, repeated, "sterile" world of social networking sites for their online interaction needs. And what do most Facebook users use as an "avatar"? A photo of themselves. And herein lies the biggest irony: Far from hiding their real-life identities behind constructed electronic selves, everyone lays out their God-given "wetware" for all of cyberspace to see.