Avatar: ‘A manifestation or appearance of a Hindu deity’.
But to most of us apart from the film with blue people in it – it simply means a representation of the user. And it’s not just for people on Second Life who effortlessly flits between a bus driver by day and cross-dressing Ninja by night.
Surely Avatars are not a new thing; the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Incas, Hindus, Seiks, Buddhists all love them – but today we can be who we like on a daily basis. Walter Mitty on acid.
First coined in 1985 for a Lucas Film role playing game, the Avatar is becoming more and more prevalent in our everyday life. Made popular by online forums and social sites but made mass market by Nintendo. What’s so great about creating a Mii is that it has limitations – getting a likeness within the blocky graphics and limited nose palette is a rare art. I myself have created a whole army of serial killers – a hobby that simply grew from wanting to see Peter Sutcliffe throw the Hammer at the Olympics.
Alter online egos have been going since the rise of social web usage – ebay, Twitter, skype and 1000’s of other blogs have made usernames the norm. So just as Archie Leach became Cary Grant, Little Pete can by Big Boy Bryan. Every username has a story somewhere: from the unimaginative, the literal, fantasy and the tendency to place 69 on the end of anything that is already taken. This indeed was the online world’s answer to CB radio. Robber Ducky.
Emoticons, the clip art of the Avatar world – annoying as they are became popular because they softened text communications and attempted to legitimize the reason why you both can’t be bothered to pick up the phone and speak to each other. 
indeed.
But the biggest leap for the humble Avatar has been its evolution from graphical to the photographical. We all know the serial profile changers on Facebook. Some obvious, some cryptic and some just disturbing. Lookalikes, you as a child, you through your children, your dog, your cat, places you are synonymous with, meals you just had, having a good time when others weren’t, proof you used to have hair, were cool, thin. Apparently the no1 one pastime on Facebook is looking at other people’s pictures (usually our ex’s). Legitimate voyeurism or good old fashioned stalking? Smugness, pride, envy all playing a big role on channel news feed. Facebook is the blue narcissus.
Just like the fine divide between work and social life, Avatars take on different appearances – black and white staged shots for LinkedIn, cryptic/fun for foursquare, the egg for Twitter (waiting to be hatched), arty for Flickr… Avatars have opened up the world of bad Photoshop, creative filters, saturated Hipstamatic shots and the art of cropping. Let’s face it we all look a little more interesting close-up and abstract.
Offices on Friday afternoons can now communicate socially entirely via pictures. Ours has been doing it for years, where everyday email requests are grossly misinterpreted through pictures to comic effect. Never before have homonyms and homophones been so appreciated.
In any one day how many faces, user names, passwords and pictures to we trade? More costume changes than Kylie.
