Avatar (computing)

The term avatāra (/ˈævətɑːr, ˌævəˈtɑːr/) originates from Sanskrit, and was adopted by early computer games and science fiction novelists.

They can take the form of an image of one's real-life self, as often seen on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, or a virtual character that diverges from the real world.

In the story, humans receive messages from an alien galactic network that wishes to share knowledge and experience with other advanced civilizations through "songs".

Due to the ethical content of his story, Garriott wanted the real player to be responsible for their character; he thought only someone playing "themselves" could be properly judged based on their in-game actions.

Because of its ethically nuanced narrative approach, he took the Hindu word associated with a deity's manifestation on earth in physical form, and applied it to a player in the game world.

[citation needed] The use of avatar to mean online virtual bodies was popularised by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash.

[7] In Snow Crash, the term avatar was used to describe the virtual simulation of the human form in the Metaverse, a fictional virtual-reality application on the Internet.

Stephenson wrote in the "Acknowledgments" to Snow Crash: The idea of a "virtual reality" such as the Metaverse is by now widespread in the computer-graphics community and is being used in a number of different ways.

[18] Other avatar systems exist, such as on Gaia Online, WeeWorld, Frenzoo or Meez, where a pixelized representation of a person or creature is used, which can then be customized to the user's wishes.

Identicons are formed as visually distinct geometric images derived from a digest hash of the poster's IP address or user ID.

America Online introduced instant messaging for its membership in 1996 and included a limited number of "buddy icons," picking up on the avatar idea from PC games.

Such avatars can also be powered by a digital conversation which provides a little more structure than those using NLP, offering the user options and clearly defined paths to an outcome.

For example, Carl Johnson, the avatar from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, can be dressed in a wide range of clothing, can be given tattoos and haircuts, and can even body build or become obese depending upon player actions.

[28] Other avatars, such as Gordon Freeman from Half-Life, who never speaks at all, reveal very little of themselves (the original game never showed the player what he looked like without the use of a console command for third-person view).

Alternatively, City of Heroes offers one of the most detailed and comprehensive in-game avatar creation processes, allowing players to construct anything from traditional superheroes to aliens, medieval knights, monsters, robots, and many more.

[35] Avatars in non-gaming online worlds are used as two- or three-dimensional human or fantastic representations of a person's inworld self.

A later example is Linden Lab's Second Life, which has the player use a custom avatar to interact in a virtual 3D world; after peaking in 2007, its user count declined due to the encroachment of more traditional platforms such as Facebook.

More recently, the concept has been combined with virtual reality; VRChat allows the user to interact with other avatars in custom environments, and Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Platforms has promoted it as part of his vision of a metaverse.

[37][38] Many modern virtual worlds provide users with advanced tools to customize their representations, allowing them to change shapes, hair, skins and also genre.

[40] In Second Life avatars are created by residents and take any form, and range from lifelike humans to robots, animals, plants and legendary creatures.

Using avatars as profile pictures can increase users' perceived level of social presence which in turn fosters reciprocity and sharing behavior in online environments.

[49] A whole ecosystem of talent agencies and investors exists to manage these online personalities, which often differ from the creator's real-life persona.

[57] Users may earn credits for completing sponsored surveys or certain tasks to purchase items and upgrades to customize their avatar.

[58] Linden Lab's Second Life creates a virtual world in which avatars, homes, decorations, buildings and land are for sale.

[62] Some people add visual details or effects to their avatars to show support for a movement or issue, in a similar way to a physical awareness ribbon.

According to psychiatrist David Brunski, the emergence of online avatars have implications for domains of scholarly research such as technoself studies, which is concerned with all aspects of identity in a technological society.

[j 2] Across the literature, scholars have focused on three overlapping aspects that influence users' perceptions of the social potential of avatars: agency, anthropomorphism, and realism.

[72] The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication published a study of the reactions to certain types of avatars by a sample group of human users.

[74] Research by Nick Yee of the Daedelus Project demonstrates that an avatar may differ considerably from a player's offline identity, based on gender.

She described a case in which a man with a serious heart condition preventing him from ordinary socializing found acceptance and friendship through his online identity.