Avatars: Do they reflect anything about the player?
With the release of Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators I’ve had a few interesting conversations with a colleague about the relationship between the avatar and the person who plays it. The book has had several articles written about it, and if you’re into this sort of thing, they are worth a read.
After thinking about it for a while…I think some of my avatars represent pieces of my personality (just maybe…):
The top left avatar is what I normally use for all the forum communities I belong. I’m not sure this reflects anything about me at all, I just find the image hysterical. Maybe if I were a monkey, this is what I’d look like.
Next over is my first World of Warcraft character. I made this character as “over-the-top” as possible, with a mohawk, those funny black face lines, no real eyeballs, just eye sockets. I figure a warrior has to look as crazy as possible to scare your opponents.
Third from the right is my mage. When I created this character, I was all about the Fire talent tree, hence the red facial hair and red eyes. Most gnomes have a very passive face in WoW, so I tried to blow that up by creating those nasty, mean eyes with raised eyebrows. For anyone who’s played a mage, you’re always on the brink of disaster. Push a little too far, you’re definitely going to get killed. I think my crazy gnome represents that well.
The final image on the top right is my current character, a paladin. This is the only female character I play, the main reason being the male blood elf animations make it look like the avatar is having a seizure or just came back from a 12-hour stint at the pub. I’m not so sure I see any reflections of my personality, or reflections of me at all, with this avatar.
The first image on the bottom left is my Second Life avatar. Most folks I’ve come across in Second Life create either a mirror-image avatar based on their real world appearance, or an idealized version of real life. Personally, I don’t like the idea of re-creating an avatar that looks like me. I actually prefer to create an avatar that doesn’t even look human, but I haven’t had the time to build one. So now I’m a short, red-skinned fellow. Why? Because it’s a virtual world, and I can!
And the final image on the bottom right should be fairly obvious. C’est moi.
I think you and Bart Weber share an uncanny resemblance except for the red skin- maybe if you had a sunburn….