These worlds are going to be places where people can live on the Net, a sort of home base for the part of our lives we will spend online. When I first looked at a seemingly endless stream of beautifully produced 3-D shopping malls that had no people, no sense of culture, and no sense of spirit, I thought, Whoa. This place called cyberspace is going to be one lonely, sterile place I won't want to be. There's something wonderful about choosing to go to Soho or the Upper East Side, about going into a neighborhood that has a sense of culture, a sense of place. It seems to me that if we are going to spend more of our lives online, in cyberspace, cyberspace needs to have more humanity.
All avatars have the ability to gesture.
Instead of existing solely as text, or as a body that is still and lifeless, you have an embodiment, an avatar or character, that has some personality, complete with gestures and idling behavior. When you speak to someone, when you say hello, you can wave. When you ask how someone is, you can smile or flirt. You can be playful in conversation. There's a sense of presence.