Avatars

‘The avatar’s function is as a representation of the user within the online environment. As such, the user instils the avatar with qualities they want to project into that environment.’ - implications of the sentence has allowed for the element of creating a sub-human, for example games such as World of Warcraft allow for the user to design his own personal ‘avatar’ there he can decide the race and class and customise it to suit his needs and project those into that environment. Following on, we may say Avatars are a form of language they operate as a sign system that can be read in semiotic terms. Not only are you creating your own new avatar with weapons that wouldn’t exist within reality you all so establish a personal form of communication with other avatars. For example it maybe the language you use or key in emotions such as smiley faces to identify who you are and establish some form of existence in that ‘world’.

Within that world or computer game, whatever it maybe the avatar is a visual representation of the user that enables participation within the online environment. As such, it is a social tool. We could say that Facebook is a visual representation of that user, i.e. you add in your favourite music, pictures and make status about what’s going on within your life which leads to enable some form of participation with other users using the same server. You have the ability to leave a comment or ‘like’ someone status, making communication within their profile. Saying that, the avatar you may create could necessarily not be a visual presentation of the real you. Avatars that take the forms of profile pictures (like on Facebook and MySpace) are like wearing your best clothes to non-uniform day at school: users want to present certain aspects of their personality (real, imagined or aspirational) to the society they interact with. You have the ability to change who you are, maybe elaborate on certain aspects of your personality to stand out and in away make a new identity.
At the same time, it provides a distancing device that turns person (user) into character (avatar). It is a fictionalising tool that creates a new reality. The symbol of the avatar (signifier) points to the signified (the user), creating a sign. Isn’t the purpose of the avatar to establish the real you? Or is it to be someone you couldn’t be? Avatars often revel in the gap between the signifier and the signified: Users enjoy creating avatars that are not like themselves, so that there is a big difference between signifier (avatar) and signified (user). Not all avatars are just computer game characters or social networking websites; an avatar acts as a calling card/ telephone number/ identification card etc, allowing other to find the user/avatar. We have access to the avatar via, mobiles and contacts, people publish their telephone number on Facebook and to find that avatar requires trailing through those other avatars such as their Facebook. Dannah Boyd says ‘Teens often fabricate key identifying information like name, age, and location to protect themselves’ – by this he means we can change our information, we can hide our identity and in away make ourselves oblivious.
We have to establish what is an avatar? It comes in many forms, from a computer character that is nothing unlike the user to a form of a different character providing a real ecological representation of that user. But yet we have the ability to customise who we are, we can change factors of our personality and make certain aspects stand out more, we have the ability to change who we are. This can be done through pictures or profile pictures or even the way other people communicate towards you. I wouldn’t necessarily follow that the avatar is a visual representation of the user, but instead a visual representation of what that user wants to be.