The New Mii

What is so fascinating about avatars? How is it that our digital identity can be so fluid and flexible, and yet it can become something that is so vitally important to us when we venture into a digital environment?

For the uninitiated, The word Avatar comes from the ancient Hindu (Sanskrit) word 'avatara', of which the original meaning is 'incarnation'. In recent years (ever since it was first repurposed in 1985 from the Ultima Games set) the word avatar has become synonymous with the digital representation of an individual's identity. The avatar is now 'you' in another, technology mediated format. It can take the form of a 'buddy pic' on Twitter for example, or can be a sophisticated 3D rendering of your persona.

I was reminded of the function and purpose of the avatar when we recently introduced the Ninetendo Wii to our family over Christmas. The kids love it. We adults love it. It can become addictive if you let it. The Wii is quite simply a revolution in home entertainment and gaming experience. And the Wii demands that you create your Mii - your Wii avatar - so you can start playing the excellent 3D games it supports. Many discussion groups and web pages have sprung up to inform this activity (see for example the YouTube video on how to create a Penguin Mii) and it can be quite a creative process.

So you create your Mii based on how you want to appear on the screen as you play games. What choices do you have? Well, they are very wide. Similarly to other 3D virtual environments such as Second Life, you can create facial shapes and expressions, features, genders, ages, heights, body shapes, and adornments. You can of course, also have several avatars, for different purposes. Your first impulse is to create an avatar that represents you accurately. That's what I did, and then I soon got bored. So just for fun, my wife and I created a 'little old lady' avatar with her hair in a grey bun, whom we named 'Hilda'. It was hilarious to watch Hilda beating the tar out of other computer generated avatars half her age during a Wimbledon tennis match. I also have another avatar called 'Fat Barry' who is overweight, unfit, balding, and completely useless at just about everything. He is my complete antithesis of course! I always use his avatar to play my wife at golf, because if she doesn't win, my life is over.

But putting the entertainment and fun to one side for a minute (I know - these are important components in learning!) there is a serious side to avatar creation. Your avatar, according to some theorists, is an extension of you. So perhaps this is why so many people treat it so seriously. I have encountered some extremely impressive and elaborate avatars in Second Life, most of whom bear no resemblence whatsoever to their real life creators. It is of course a licence for pure fantasy, but there is a serious purpose behind it. I have posted previous blog posts on this subject including It's only me, and Multi-me, and I am increasingly interested in the issues faced when we 'distribute' our presence across several media and virtual environments simultaneously. I will write more about my own thoughts on avatars and digital identity over the coming year, and would appreciate any comments and dialogue with those of you who are interested in developing this subject further in the context of education and training.