Avatars

In the gaming world avatars are extremely popular. Gamers use these figures to represent things about themselves. Some people make avatars completely opposite their true selves and others make ones similar to themselves. Gamers use avatars to let out their personality and feelings without being judged by true appearances. In some cases, this has been very helpful. For example the first guy on page 323 is handicapped, but the gamers he plays with online have no knowledge of this. Using the avatar has allowed him to make many friends online that he couldn't make in the real world because of his disabilities. Sometimes gamers make avatars that make them more powerful, like the girl on page 324. If she had a female avatar the male gamers would be hitting on her and not taker her seriously, so she created and strong black male figure to represent herself. Avatars are a great way of self expression and allow people to get to know one another based on personality rather than appearance. In the classroom I think avatars could be useful. Students could make their own individual and come up with a creative name that makes each person anonymous. Using the avatars would allow more shy students to express their thoughts on subjects at hand without feeling ashamed. Because the true identities of each student would be unknown, fellow students would not be able to make fun of the student who spoke up in the aftermath. In general, avatars can be very useful.