The Virtual World Postcard Project: 1,000 Avatars

Dear Friends,

What would you look like if you could decide every aspect of your appearance?

This is one of the questions worth contemplating on a visit to “The 1,000 Avatars Project,” an installation in Second Life created by artist Gracie Kendal. (Thanks to Second Life chronicler Draxtor for recommending it). I’ve come here several times recently, and each time found myself mulling about constructed identity.

Kendal’s study is no more complex than it sounds: “photographs” of 1,000 avatars (Actually, she has exceeded her original targets and now has images of nearly 2000.) displayed in a grid covering four walls of a virtual gallery.

It speaks, though, to one of the great powers virtual worlds offer: the power to strip away your existing identity, and replace it with a presence featuring characteristics entirely of your own choosing (within certain technological limits).

These portraits tell a visual story both of the variety and the commonality of people’s choices.

Many, many avatars are epitomes or even caricatures of the “idealized” bodies featured in advertising, Hollywood films and pornography – broad shoulders, tight buns, and while the pictures are all taken from the back, you still get a sense that there is no shortage of  barrel chests, comic-book style breasts, and rippling bodybuilder muscles. I suppose this shouldn’t be surprising, though I find it disappointing on some level – I guess I’d like it if the freedom to choose one’s appearance fostered more individuality.

Not that imagination and creativity are entirely missing here. Those avatars that eschew the film-star archetype move far from it. There are a surprising number avatars with tiger tails, for instance. Flitting around the images (of course one must fly to experience this exhibit), you can find dragons, butterflies, fauns, reptiles, pixies, astronauts, aliens and alien astronauts. One avatar possibly looks like Mr. Peanut, and another like Winnie the Pooh, but it’s hard to tell from behind.  Another avatar is in a wheelchair with a snowboard strapped to his back.

These pictures reveal the physical aspects of these avatars, but that’s only part of the story. In a virtual world, people don’t just try on new bodies – they also experiment with new personalities.

I asked, “What would you look like” if you could choose? But the real question is, “What would you be like?” Timid or brash? Honest or deceitful? Leader or follower? Straight or gay? Male, female or other? Human, beast, or god? One thing one day and something else the next?

The freedom to choose, unhampered by personal history, cultural strictures or other real-life limitations is one of the most intoxicating things about virtual world denizenship. Avatars provide a means for people to  reinvent themselves – repeatedly if they wish. They can explore aspects of their personality they are unsure about, and connect with other people in ways they might not be able to in real life.

Normal contextual limitations simply do not apply.

When I reentered Second Life, I intended to be upfront in real life about my avatar’s identity, and be open in the virtual world about who I really am. I’ve realized that this may not be wise.

Honour McMillan, another experienced SLer cautioned me that Second Life is “not Facebook.” The relationship between real word and virtual world identities is more complex and powerful than that of social media.

So, I’m going to do my best to stay anonymous, at least until I understand that relationship better.

Bye for now,

Patchen