![]() ![]() When her sister came into the room and noticed her creation, she questioned “Why’d you make your avatar ugly?” which flattened Dell’s self-esteem, the self-esteem that had made its way via the link of the avatar market, through the barrier that separates the two worlds and had downloaded itself into her digital representation. Furthermore, according to Kristina Dell in How Second Life Affects Real Life, during her first visit to Second Life, she spent a half an hour attempting to make her avatar look like “a hotter version” of herself. Though her avatar was merely bits of pixilated data interacting with other data bits, a rather real “fashion-consciousness” still managed to take hold of her and transfer into cyberspace. According to Katz, the fact that “the other avatars in the room look so dazzlingly fabulous in heels, feathers and flouncy skits,” made her want her share of dressy outfits. For example, in the article My avatar’s so-called life, Leslie Katz admits her shame of wanting to stray from her normally casual ensemble of jeans and a tank top when her avatar entered Second Life. Yet, the fact that these representations reside in the digital world does not prevent players from investing “real” emotions into them and forming a “real” attachments, which illustrates the proximity of the two worlds. Online games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft are known for the complexity and customization options of their 3D avatars. In the case of digital avatars, a user can create these virtual representations on a number of different sites or from a number of different programs. ![]() I suppose the market implies that no matter the world, virtual or real, people may simply want representation, to have a voice in it. The flow of information between the two worlds via the avatar market creates a link which allows online/digital users to customize (market) their avatars in order to represent some portion of themselves online, and in the real world, the equation flips and brings people to customize (market) their bodies in order to more snugly fit themselves behind their choice of avatar(s), again for sake of representation. While the surgeries “enhance” the flesh, make it malleable for the sculpting, the focus is on the technology of the avatar market and how it is established in both the digital world and in the real world. For the purposes of this paper (as with the first) cosmetic surgery, while a technology, serves as the catalyst for people to market themselves the avatar of their choosing both in digital and real spaces. Thus, if online we use the word to represent “the self” (or some aspect of it) in digital form, it is no surprise that the market for flesh avatars carries over into the real world. I then began thinking of an “avatar market” as a possible link between the real world and the cyber world which ultimately serves to weaken the barrier between the two.Īccording to the OED, an avatar is a manifestation in human form. The possible mesh between the two spaces brought me back to my very first paper for the course, Achieving a Market, when I discussed cosmetic surgery as a sub technology within the confines of a larger technology–particular markets. The idea of their being a thin (and possibly thinning) line between “real space” and cyber space definitely struck me the hardest when in class, as did the thought that we may even be carrying our own avatars around with us in the real world.
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