Your avatar is you? Or just a computer generated graphic to play with?

[Doc Carling]

Do you see your Avatar as mirror of your real self? Or rather as a computer generated fantasy character that has nothing in common with your real person? Perhaps a character that you would like to be in real life? Well, I don't expect outings. lol But I noticed that some residents seems to consider their avatar and themselves as one and the same person.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Doc Carling

[Fritigern Gothly]

My avatar is a reflection of me, who I am inside. As such it is an extension of me and whatever anyone does to my avatar, good or bad, they do to me.

Does my avatar look like the RL me? Heavens no and nobody wants to see that anyway.  

[Talligurl]

25 minutes ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

My avatar is a reflection of me, who I am inside. As such it is an extension of me and whatever anyone does to my avatar, good or bad, they do to me.

Does my avatar look like the RL me? Heavens no and nobody wants to see that anyway.  

I couldn't have said it any better.

[RitaCallisto]

I'd go with character that has mostly nothing in common. About the only thing that leaks over is my moral fiber.

 

[MrsSeren]

Seren who is I am when you break through past the shyness I suffer with RL however otherwise she is me.  

[Danielle Atheria]

If i looked like my Avi i wouldn't be in SL lol. My Avi though is more outgoing and friendly than i am in RL....cuter too.

[TT120]

My avi works out more than I do in RL but the personality is the same.  I am just as outgoing in RL and can make friends just as easily.  

[Talligurl]

1 hour ago, Danielle Atheria said:

If i looked like my Avi i wouldn't be in SL 

Yeah this too

[Walelu Summerwind]

My avatar is my inner child. She was ‘born’ in same month as I, so, we share the same traits. The only real difference between my avatar and I is that she is more impetuous and daring. 🙄

[Janet Voxel]

Porque no lo dos?

Sometimes my avi is me, sometimes its a character. It really depends on what I'm doing and how I feel. Neither is wrong to me. I look at Secondlife as a type of unfiction because the line gets really blurry and it can often change without warning. As far as I'm concerned everybody is a character on here, it's just a different degree of how autobiographical they're being. Some people will make an avatar that looks as much like them as possible and acts like them except they left the part out where they're married and have two kids. So in a case like that...are they being their true self? I don't have an answer to that. 

I think even people that consider their avis characters are themselves sometimes.

[DooBeeDum]

My avi is physically almost the same as in rl, just too perfect. In personality, she is more quite. In rl, I easily make friends, new buddy often seems like an old buddy to others. But in SL, I am a loner. I don't type much. Sometimes I just sat watching my avi dance like a bish while resting my rl feet on the table in comfy position, fingers are away from keyboard or on my phone. In the past my rl friend watched what I did on sl if she visited me, so again, no typing. Online while talking with friends. I am amazed tho with ppl who blindly judge someone's real character based on what they see and read in SL. It's not always work that way... Just saying.

Edited March 2, 2021 by DooBeeDum

[Paul Hexem]

To me, these sorts of questions are redundant. Have you looked up the definition of the word 'avatar'?

[Doc Carling]

3 hours ago, Paul Hexem said:

To me, these sorts of questions are redundant. Have you looked up the definition of the word 'avatar'?

 🙂 Well, that's what the thread is about. That everyone has his personal definition of the word avatar.

[Paul Hexem]

32 minutes ago, Doc Carling said:

 🙂 Well, that's what the thread is about. That everyone has his personal definition of the word avatar.

That's not really how words work.

Or are we doing this like when people say "my truth" when they make up nonsense and change facts?

My truth is, my avatar is a moving image that acts as a proxy for me in SL.

[Doc Carling]

25 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

Or are we doing this like when people say "my truth" when they make up nonsense and change facts?

C'mon you are comparing apples with sheep cheese. lol The word avatar lets space for fantasy. The word truth not.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Doc Carling

[Eddy Vortex]

1 hour ago, Doc Carling said:

C'mon you are comparing apples with sheep cheese.

But they do taste nice together with a bit of honey mustard in a sandwich.

 

19 hours ago, Doc Carling said:

Do you see your Avatar as mirror of your real self? Or rather as a computer generated fantasy character that has nothing in common with your real person? Perhaps a character that you would like to be in real life?

Greg started life as a vehicle for exploring this virtual world a decade ago, and he evolved into a semi-fantasy character over time.  He is what I wish to look like if I had the motivation to exercise and the money for a top-notch plastic surgeon.  Eddy was created many years later for the one job of catching a second Linden Home.  Then something funny happened and before I knew it, some bits and pieces of my RL self spun off to manifest themselves in these two avatars.

[LilithServil]

A little of column A, a little of column B. All of my avatars are usually based on characters/ocs of mine that I've heftily modded into SL to run around as, but they're not "characters" in an rp sense. They're more just... How I'd like to present myself as at the time. A vessel for the actual me to hang out and chat in-world, that's outwardly showing off my creativity and art in the form of my characters.

A bit like how wearing a Halloween costume or a cosplay doesn't fundamentally change you as a person; sure, you might have silly "in-character" moments if the situation calls for it but you're still your own person behind the outfit.

[Eggy UwU]

i feel like my avatars are based on my IRL self cause i do not act any different IRL as i do in SL. as a few others have said, they are a reflection of who i am.

[AlexandriaBrangwin]

On 3/2/2021 at 6:23 PM, Doc Carling said:

Do you see your Avatar as mirror of your real self? Or rather as a computer generated fantasy character that has nothing in common with your real person? Perhaps a character that you would like to be in real life? Well, I don't expect outings. lol But I noticed that some residents seems to consider their avatar and themselves as one and the same person.

A simple image search will show anyone I am as close to me as I can possibly be!

[Jerry McNally]

I would love to consider my avatar to be me, but I get hung up about the discrepancies in our appearance. I need to work out how to scan in a photo and use that, I think.

[GoSpeed Racer]

2 hours ago, AlexandriaBrangwin said:

A simple image search will show anyone I am as close to me as I can possibly be!

Knowing there is a RL person who has the same, wry facial expressions as your avatar makes my day!

[Zzevir]

Yes this is me in RL.

 

Buying hats is a nightmare and going to the shops are also a challenge.

[Solar Legion]

21 hours ago, Janet Voxel said:

Porque no lo dos?

Sometimes my avi is me, sometimes its a character. It really depends on what I'm doing and how I feel. Neither is wrong to me. I look at Secondlife as a type of unfiction because the line gets really blurry and it can often change without warning. As far as I'm concerned everybody is a character on here, it's just a different degree of how autobiographical they're being. Some people will make an avatar that looks as much like them as possible and acts like them except they left the part out where they're married and have two kids. So in a case like that...are they being their true self? I don't have an answer to that. 

I think even people that consider their avis characters are themselves sometimes.

ah yep, gonna second this and add in that I use specific behaviors/mannerisms and physical traits to denote when the avatar is meant to be a more full out Character than some representation of the Inner Me.

For the former I generally stick to a singular Character - Atra (a nickname of sorts) - with specific traits and behaviors that are his pretty much alone. Now mind that there is some crossover as I will sometimes use Atra as a vehicle to let some of my darker traits and such run free, though once play is done those go right back into their box.

ETA: For an example of a physical trait that belongs to Atra - one that I try to carry across forms and updates - see my forum Avatar image and note the eyes in particular. Almost every version of Atra has Red/Gold, solid Red or solid "Gold" eyes.

For the latter I have incredibly specific Human, Hybrid and Anthropomorphic Avatar forms I use as representation with the first two types having a host of physical traits that I too have (hair, eye and skin coloration for example) while taking liberties with others (mixing in the body type I had years ago, stylized to be a bit healthier and making allowances for height in SL). The Anthropomorphic one is an incredibly specific Fox Mod color by Okaie/Whisk with the only other alterations there being head and overall body shape - reflecting my mood/mental state at the time in a way not too dissimilar to what I do for the Character, Atra and his varied form/color changes.

Bit convoluted? Meh - I hope not but I know it might seem so for some.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Solar Legion

[Coffee Pancake]

My avatar is not a character, more the expression of an aspect of my real self that I am choosing to indulge. The specific aspect changes and drifts over time in reaction to interactions with others. It's more or less me, depending on context.

[Karl Herber]

On 3/2/2021 at 7:23 AM, Doc Carling said:

Do you see your Avatar as mirror of your real self? Or rather as a computer generated fantasy character that has nothing in common with your real person? Perhaps a character that you would like to be in real life? Well, I don't expect outings. lol But I noticed that some residents seems to consider their avatar and themselves as one and the same person.

Neither, really, but something in-between.

Not a mirror but more like an abstract portrait of myself. A representation, not an imitation.  My avatar and I do not share anything in common appearance-wise but we share personality, opinions, moral stance etc.  My furry forms in particular are symbolic of aspects of myself and my appearance. I started off in SL (14, almost 15 years ago) as a brown horse, but also sometimes a blue one, depending on how I was feeling. The blue one was a symbol of my depression, and the colour I wore would be a guide to my friends of the mood I was in at the time. Over time, the blue one kind of "stuck" and became my stronger fursona (even when I wasn't feeling depressed), and I branched out into blue colours of other animals as well, especially canids. Since my return I'm a blue horse less often and a brown one more often, but I don't think I'm matching that to my moods as deliberately as before. I am also sometimes human now too, which rarely happened at all before.