Where Is Your Avatar?

Avatars are no longer known only for being the virtual toys of hard-core online gamers. The word "avatar" is losing its exotic, tech-geek luster in part because of a growing acceptance of "life" taking place on the Web. With so many people and businesses participating in avatar-related sites and activities like Second Life and World of Warcraft, and with more just around the corner, the avatar population could soon explode dramatically.

New technologies could further encourage avatar growth. From the Christian Science Monitor article "Is this the age of the online avatar?":

…On March 7, Linden Labs, the California firm whose massive servers have hosted Second Life for three years, announced the beta testing of an integrated voice function that could substitute, as desired, for typed exchanges that appear on screen.

"We know where other [avatars] are in your audible range," says Joe Miller, a Linden vice president. New software mimics the human ear so that voices come from "wherever they are."

That move and others go toward creating what Mr. Miller calls a "persistent space." He predicts a near future in which far-flung family members circle a virtual campfire, in photo-realistic avatar form, on a regular basis.

As more people accept avatar worlds into their lives, marketers will have new venues for reaching them:

…Businesses both real and virtual thrive in-world. Reuters recently established a Second Life news bureau. Presidential candidates have built campaign headquarters. Major League Baseball has a presence. Some 70 colleges and universities, including Harvard, now teach classes inside Second Life.

There are still obstacles, however, to virtual worlds becoming the place we’d rather live instead of out here with the flesh-and-blood and brick-and-mortar:

…"Fantasy playgrounds actually don’t work particularly well as social networks," says Danah Boyd, a doctoral candidate at Berkeley and fellow at USC’s Annenberg Center who was dubbed the "high priestess of Internet friendship" last year by the Financial Times.

Yet a new level of avatar fascination may just be beginning. The artistic duo Eva and Franco Mattes (a.k.a. 0100101110101101.ORG) has created an online show titled "13 Most Beautiful Avatars". (Two of their images are above.) In doing so, they have created the ultimate beautiful "people."

Or have they? As the real/virtual line continues to blur, what’s next? With the growing acceptance and creation of avatars and their realms, could avatar brands, celebrities, and a unique avatar culture be so far behind?

How will all of this play out as what and who we create online influences how we live in "real life"?

"Is this the age of the online avatar? As Internet communities grow, virtual alter-egos are becoming mainstream." from the Christian Science Monitor

13 Most Beautiful Avatars by Eva and Franco Mattes (a.k.a. 0100101110101101.ORG)

found via NOTCOT