avatar
avatar, the visual representation of a user or player to others in an interactive virtual environment. Avatars are a primary means of identity representation and performance in many video games and virtual worlds. An avatar can take numerous forms, from a username to a simple picture to a complex 3D image of a humanoid or animal.
Users control or direct their avatars and use them to interact with other users and the virtual world’s environment and narrative. Generally, an avatar is a requirement to enter the virtual world, and it is visible to all others in the world. The term avatar is derived from avatāra, a Sanskrit word translated as “incarnation.” In the Hindu tradition, it is associated with a deity’s manifestation or embodiment on Earth. The virtual avatar is not exactly a reincarnation of the user, but the sense of the same being inhabiting a new body is similar.
As an online representation of identity, an avatar can be similar to the user’s self-concept, entirely fictitious, or somewhere in between. Some individuals use their avatars as an outlet for identity experimentation and role-play characters that deviate drastically from their offline personalities and characteristics. Others attempt to make their avatar appear and behave as similar to their offline selves as possible. The same user may have multiple, unique avatars in the same virtual environment and use them for different purposes (e.g., a male warrior for battles with a group, a female hunter for role-play, and a gnome for crafting and selling items).
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Form and Perspective
Avatars can be represented in different dimensions and perspectives. An avatar can be a two-dimensional representation of a user, such as a profile picture on an online message board or a social networking site such as Facebook. Two-dimensional avatars can also be found in classic console games such as Super Mario Bros., in which the user controls the protagonist character. In first-person shooter games such as Halo and Call of Duty, the player and on-screen character share the same point of view, rendering invisible much of the avatar beyond the hands and equipment.
In virtual worlds such as Second Life or massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft and EverQuest, users can see their 3D avatars from a close third-person perspective as they move them around a virtual space. The camera normally follows behind or over the shoulder of the avatar, so the user can watch the avatar run, jump, dance, fight, interact with others, or perform any other actions directed by the user. These close third-person contexts are the most common and readily understood examples of avatars. This perspective means that a user spends a significant amount of time looking at the avatar, and many feel a sense of connection or relationship to their virtual form.
Customization
Depending on the environment, avatars are often customizable. Users may choose how they wish to be embodied from within a set of predetermined options. To varying extents, users generally have control over the appearance of their avatars and are able to decide the presented gender, species or race, skin tone, hair color and/or style, eye shape and/or color, facial features and expressions, and markings of their avatar. They may also add clothing and accessories to further customize the appearance of their avatars, making the occurrence of two identical avatars in the world uncommon. Users might spend significant amounts of time and money in customizing and advancing their avatars in skill level, armor, and appearance. The options available to customize avatars both enable and constrain self-presentation.
Some virtual environments allow for more personalization than others. Second Life is one environment that offers a high level of customization. Each person who enters Second Life does so with a default avatar, an image of a human body that represents them in the world, which they can alter and modify with relative ease. Second Life allows users to choose from a range of default avatars that are racially diverse; however, all of the default human avatars have idealized bodies and conform to gendered norms in terms of appearance and dress (with the notable exceptions of the available robot and dragon avatars).
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A user can change an avatar’s race, height, weight, and so on. Users may create and/or sell clothing, hairstyles, and other appearance features and accessories such as wings or wheelchairs for further customization.
On the other hand, World of Warcraft allows for a limited range of default avatars based on race, gender, class, and role. The standard World of Warcraft human avatars are white, with exaggerated, sexualized features including long hair and large breasts for female avatars and muscular builds for male avatars. Height and weight cannot be altered. Clothing, accessories, and armor can be changed, but the options are determined by the game. These fantasy representations of virtual bodies have been a topic of debate among game designers, players, and critics, with many advocating for more diverse options for avatar features.
Social Function
On its most basic level, an avatar is a 3D visual tool for interactions with the computer system as well as with other people. On a more complex level, avatars are not simply a technical tool of communication but also a means of exploring and discovering a virtual reality. Users experience group communication, interpersonal conflict, relationship formation and dissolution, narrative sense making, and intense immersion while interacting through their avatars.
The avatar mediates between the user and the social world. It is the means of interacting with other users, the virtual environment, and the narrative. Since avatars are visual representations of identity in these virtual spaces, the appearance of an avatar has consequences for the social interaction of that user. Scholars of virtual worlds have explored how avatar appearance can shape a user’s experience. An avatar’s presented race and gender, for example, may change the kind of messages the user receives from other users, such as female avatars receiving more sexualized comments.
Anonymity also affects the social function of avatars. Many users choose not to reveal their off-line identity to others in the virtual world, although some users do know each other in offline or other online contexts. This general sense of anonymity means that users must interact at the level of the avatar, never knowing, for example, whether the elven archer in their group is a teenage girl in Singapore or a senior war veteran in Oklahoma. This anonymity can have a socially equalizing effect by reducing judgments based on physical characteristics. Users can form meaningful relationships without knowing the offline identity of the other person. However, the digital body still has its own set of constraints.
The original version of this article was published by SAGE Publications in The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society.