What Does Your Avatar Say About You?

With the rise and rise of social networks and complex online communities, the implications of choosing an acceptable avatar for any given environment has become increasingly important.

From iamsurly's article on Open Salon:
Have you seen the guy who uses the image of a murderous clown? What about the guy drowning in blood, ketchup, red paint, whatever the hell it is. There are a couple of people using severed body parts. You know what that says to me? That says you're a potential freakin' serial killer and no, you can't be my friend.

Research into the way people behave when playing computer games has unsurprisingly turned up results showing that such a close identification with their digital selves can lead to players taking on the emotions and behaviours that they had invested in that character. Erin Mulvaney at dailycomet.com:

The characters that video-game users choose for themselves — their avatars — can affect their thoughts and emotions in those virtual environments, whether it’s Mario or Luigi or the colors of a football uniform, according to research by a University of Texas communication-studies professor.

In two similar experiments, assistant professor Jorge Pena found that gamers using negative avatars — such as those wearing black cloaks — exhibited aggressive and antisocial behaviors in team exercises.

And what happens as our pixelated representatives take on more responsibilities for us in the digital realm. A recent Telegraph article looks at the role of the avatar in the corporate environment:

A growing number of firms are drawing up rules to regulate the conduct of their staff in online environments, amid concerns that "unprofessional" appearance and behaviour can damage business.

The issue is particularly pressing at companies where staff are required to select an avatar – or character – to represent them in online meetings with clients.

Such observations paint a grim future for the unbridled freedom that had hitherto been unquestioned in MMORPG land and suggest a new mainstream focus on having a trans-spacial presence, ready to work or play at any time, that complies with the expectations of other who share or govern that space.

Such inevitable developments suggest that the avatar is now recognised as being as much of a symbol of our personality and attitudes as the language we use or the clothes we wear. The mainstream acceptance of this fact can only point to a future in which we spend more and more time with our avatars, and eventually merge with them; a point at which we will be able to be all things to all people. It is said that we see what we want to see in others... this may soon be the literal truth.