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| Alana Bolton, my selected avatar. |
Meet
Alana Bolton! As part of the module, I was asked to choose an avatar - an
online representation of me - from a selection of characters; here I will
outline the main reasons why I chose this particular avatar.
When
I was selecting an avatar, I was left to choose based on the appearance alone,
as we were given just images of each of the avatars on offer. However, I don’t
feel descriptions of traits, likes and dislikes, or any other information would
really have affected the choice I made. Most of the judgements made about
online avatars are based on appearance, the way the character is controlled and
what is said on chat, so really any descriptions provided to help my selection
would be fictional; Alana Bolton is purely what I make her to be. Now
onto why I chose this Avatar in particular.
Firstly,
I set myself on picking a female character - which instantly ruled out any
possibility of playing as a male - simply because I view being female as being
quite an important aspect of my identity. I don’t think I could carry off
‘being male’ very well and be convincing enough to really start identifying
with my character, and feel the effects of being recognised as male, as opposed
to female, by my peers.
The
main reason why I picked Alana Bolton, as opposed to any other female avatar,
is because I felt she reflected my personality. I found quite a lot of the
avatars were quite boldly dressed, and this was not something I particularly
wanted to portray with my character. I felt she had a similar casual dress
sense to me, and the knitted jumper particularly drew me because it hinted at a
sense of shyness, which again I wanted to portray. I didn’t want my avatar to
look particularly ‘fashionista’ or dressy, but instead friendly and
approachable, as this is the sort of personality I wanted to represent.
However,
I also liked that she didn’t look entirely like me, and so it allowed me to
experience a different identity and explore the world through the character of
another; I feel if the avatar looked exactly like me, any anonymity I would
have felt would be completely gone and I’d feel drawn to trying to act like
myself rather than explore the personality of ‘Alana Bolton’. In particular, I
was quite drawn by her ginger hair, because when I look at my own appearance, I
tend to view myself as quite plain, and so seeing a character with a very
distinct feature allows me to express an individuality I don’t feel in meat
space. I find that when I create characters on games such as ‘The Sims’ they
always seem to have a simple but individual look; they are dressed casually but
definitely have some distinguishing and unique feature about them; either
striking green eyes or fiery red hair, and I feel my choice of Alana Bolton is
no different in expressing this preference.
Initially,
I was inclined towards Aurora Bolton, as that is my middle name and so felt an
instant connection to that avatar because of this. However, when I looked at
the avatar she did not speak ‘me’ at all, which did steer me away from the
character. This tells me that, even though a name is important to identity (the
first thing you do when you want to deindividualise somebody is take away their
name), the appearance and the sort of feel and personality I get from the
avatar is far more salient to me.
After
only a few sessions on Second Life, I am already starting to become attached to
my avatar, to the point where I can’t really picture myself portrayed by any
other character within the Bolton ‘clan'. Because of this, I know that I have
picked a representation which accurately portrays 'me' and the sort of
impression I want to give to others in cyberspace.
Until
next time,
Philippa
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