Avatars (Computer graphics)
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- Work cat.: Avatars at work and play : collaboration and interaction in shared virtual environments, c2006:p. 17 (digital proxies of people, called avatars)
- Wikipedia, June 13, 2006(Avatar (virtual reality). Among people working on virtual reality and cyberspace interfaces, an avatar (sometimes AV or av) is an icon or representation of a user in a shared virtual reality. This definition has recently been applied to online virtual communities and Internet forums in particular, as a picture that a member/user of such a community/forum has elected to display alongside his or her contributions in order to represent him- or herself. Avatars have also become popular in instant messaging, and are sometimes referred to as buddy icons.)
- The psychology of avatars and graphical space in multimedia chat communities, via WWW, June 13, 2006(Avatars refer to pictures, drawings, or icons that users choose to represent themselves; Avs fall into two overall categories. The first are the standard set of "smileys" that come with the Palace program. The second major category of avatars [are] those created by the members themselves)
- Hughes, C.E. Shared virtual worlds for education, 1997, via WWW, June 13, 2006:abstr. (Players enter and interact in a habitat via their animated alter egos, called "avatars") footnotes (The term "avatar" to denote an on-screen animated figure representing a player was introduced by the authors of the Habitat system (Morningstar 91) and independently in Snow Crash (Stephenson 92.))
- Free on-line dict. of computing, June 13, 2006(avatar 1. An image representing a user in a multi-user virtual reality (or VR-like, in the case of Palace) space)
- The social life of avatars : presence and interaction in shared virtual environments, c2002.
In computing, an avatar is a graphical representation of a user, the user's character, or persona. Avatars can be two-dimensional icons in Internet forums and other online communities, where they are also known as profile pictures, userpics, or formerly picons (personal icons, or possibly "picture icons"). Alternatively, an avatar can take the form of a three-dimensional model, as used in online worlds and video games, or an imaginary character with no graphical appearance, as in text-based games or worlds such as MUDs. The term avatāra () originates from Sanskrit, and was adopted by early computer games and science fiction novelists. Richard Garriott extended the term to an on-screen user representation in 1985, and the term gained wider adoption in Internet forums and MUDs. Nowadays, avatars are used in a variety of online settings including social media, virtual assistants, instant messaging platforms, and digital worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. They can take the form of an image of one's real-life self, as often seen on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, or a virtual character that diverges from the real world. Often, these are customised to show support for different causes, or to create a unique online representation. Academic research has focused on how avatars can influence the outcomes of communication and digital identity. Users can employ avatars with fictional characteristics to gain social acceptance or ease social interaction. However, studies have found that the majority of users choose avatars that resemble their real-world selves.
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