Avatars & The Sim-ulacra

    Baudrillard's theories on simulation and the sim-ulacra are fascinating. That notion that reality no longer emits signs to indicate its existence and that simulacrum is not just a copy, but the hyperreal, is genuine food for thought making me deeply consider the true value of signs and symbols in constructing our reality. Looking deeper into the concept, Baudrillard discusses a four stage breakdown of signs:

1.     A faithful image/copy

2.     Perversion of reality

3.     Profound reality

4.     Pure simulation

My research into the topic led me to consider avatars and their use today.  What I found is that there an array of ways in which avatars are used by people, in particular when playing social games such as Second Life. Derived from Sanskrit, the word avatar is translated to 'incarnation'. In its modern sense, avatars are an online representation of a user, and can take many forms such as a screen name or a three dimensional visual representation. Offering infinite possibilities, creation of an avatar gives a user an opportunity to express themselves outside of the physical world.

The thoughts of Sherry Turkle on this topic are interesting. Turkle believes that experiences with computer environments provide users with new forms of existence which can redefine the notion of identity. What this provides is a chance for individuals to express unexplored aspects of the self, and in some circumstances provide a transformation of their identity. 

Whilst I'm not much of a gamer these days, I used to be prone to some online sports gaming. Personally, my online avatars have always been fairly simple recreations of myself. I'm boring in my avatar creation and use my own nickname for my characters, visually making them as similar a recreation of myself as I could.

In my readings on avatars and social gaming, I discovered that I am a minority in this regard with many people going to elaborate measures in creating an avatar. Most fascinating to me was the lengths people go to, in joining communities within games like Second Life.

Rules, roles and rituals play a huge part in a world that offers endless opportunities to be as individual as one desires. Things like wedding customs, special greetings and choreographed dance routines are part and parcel of interaction in Second Life. I was puzzled that when offered genuine freedom in a virtual world like Second Life, users swarm to join groups like Goreans or vampire bloodlines which have strict requirements governing how users can act and interact within the game.

Whatever their reasons, it is clear that people love Second Life and the opportunities to interact with the virtual world it provides; in 2011 Second Life averaged approximately 14-18 thousand new registrations each day.   

REFERENCES:

Adee, S 2012, 'Me, Myself, I', New Scientist, 215, 2877, pp. 38-41, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 January 2013.

Koles, B, & Nagy, P 2012, 'Virtual Customers behind Avatars: The Relationship between Virtual Identity and Virtual Consumption in Second Life', Journal Of Theoretical & Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 7, 2, pp. 87-105, Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 January 2013.