Avatars

Avatars are the visual representation of a user in an on-line environment. In general, avatars come in two forms: in games, and in forums. The general visual resolution of an avatar comes in either a two-dimensional form or a three-dimensional form. The representation of the user is not limited to representing themselves, and often times depicts an alter ego of sorts. This is to protect their identity or anonymity.

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### History

The use of the term avatar has been around for centuries, dating back to ancient Hinduism. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines an avatar as "a variant phase or version of a continuing basic entity," as well as "an electronic image that represents and is manipulated by a computer user." Until 1985, the term was used to describe a sensation or being that was reminiscent of a living being. In 1985, Richard Garriott created the first use of the term as a computing term with his game, Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. Prior to the release of this game, there were some instances of the term avatar being related to technology in popular novels about cyberspace.

### Social Implications

In on-line social interactions, the avatar of the user has been proven to alter the emotions towards how the user will interact within the given social event. One of the largest correlations between the avatar and user lies within the characteristics of the avatar. Normally, in an on-line environment, the user has some way or another to alter the appearance/characteristics of the avatar. The user may or may not try to mimic the way they look in real life, and most of the time are unable to create an exact replica of themselves on-line. In fact, even when users are able to upload their own image in place of an avatar, that image normally displays one specific emotion that the user had at any given time. In turn, these characteristics subconsciously make the user act in ways attuned to those characteristics.

These same characteristics within the avatars of the user and other users whom they interact with also allow the user to become more emotionally involved in the social interaction taking place. In the Taylor study of *Avatars and Emotional Engagement in Asynchronous On-line Communication*, more users were found to respond to, and become more emotionally involved with, questions that were asked by users with avatars on Yahoo. The enhanced emotional involvement is most closely related to how avatars resemble humans. This resemblance allows users to think of the question being asked as a human social interaction rather than a machine or unknown entity. This same involvement creates a more engaging social space for users.

### Persona

Avatars can create a deeper sense of "self" within a user. Sometimes this leads the user to form a separate persona within the avatar of their choosing, especially if the avatar exhibits high human qualities/is in a game. Persona is defined as an individual's social façade or front according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Users have been studied and were found that the persona in their avatar psychologically exhibits characteristics of the user. This could mean that even if the player was male and then created a female avatar, somewhere in their mind is a psychological reasoning for this. Whether it be because they wish to exhibit more feminine qualities, want some other form of self-reassurance, or any other reason that may arise is all due to the user as a person.

People may also consciously choose certain avatars to create an alternate persona for themselves as well. Say a user wants to act more confidently in a game, as well as maybe become a leader, although in the real world they are a follower. This user may pick an avatar that exhibits great beauty as well with a stern manner or other stereotypical characteristic that the user would like to exhibit. These types of avatars are especially used within the realm of role-play in an on-line environment, which has excelled in the virtual world due to visual aids such as avatars. These alternate characteristics have also helped spread the idea of personas into other "fandoms" of sorts, often shortening the term to "'sona."

### Role In Virtual World

The avatar in a virtual world is to represent an entity within a given virtual environment. In a game, it is meant to represent a character, and in forums, it represents a member of a conversation. Avatars do not necessarily need to be an exact representation of a person in a `game`. Forums may be slightly more critical of actual identity considering the avatar more directly seems to represent a person, and forums are in a generally a more serious environment than are avatars in games. In the past, people posing as other people (especially on forums that allow pictures to be uploaded in place of the avatar have caused up-roar in popular media.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Elovici, Y., Fire, M., Herzberg, A. and Shulman, H. (2013) ‘Ethical considerations when employing fake identities in online social networks for research’, *Science and Engineering Ethics*, 20(4), pp. 1027–1043. doi: 10.1007/s11948-013-9473-0.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Lee, M.-F., Smart, N.P., Warinschi, B. and Watson, G.J. (2014) ‘Anonymity guarantees of the UMTS/LTE authentication and connection protocol’, *International Journal of Information Security*, 13(6), pp. 513–527. doi: 10.1007/s10207-014-0231-3.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Keipi, T. and Oksanen, A. (2014) ‘Self-exploration, anonymity and risks in the online setting: Analysis of narratives by 14–18-year olds’, *Journal of Youth Studies*, 17(8), pp. 1097–1113. doi: 10.1080/13676261.2014.881988.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Liang, H., De Silva, R.N., Ooi, W.T. and Motani, M. (2009) ‘Avatar mobility in user-created networked virtual worlds: Measurements, analysis, and implications’,*Multimedia Tools and Applications*, 45(1-3), pp. 163–190. doi: 10.1007/s11042-009-0304-x.