The symbol of the avatar (signifier) points to the signified (the user), creating a sign. The signifier can provide information about the signified in terms of their interests, personality and appearance. The avatar’s function is as a representation of the user within the online environment, As such, the user instills the avatar with qualities they want to project into that environment. The project of the signified though means of an avatar has become more popular and important according to the rise in online technology, and other technology such a gaming. The online social world is becoming bigger and bigger and people from all over the world can communicate with ease whether they are on a train or sitting at home, as the technology becomes more fluent and accessible.The signified presents certain aspects of their personality, real, imagined or aspiration to the society they interact with. For example avatars can take the forms of profile pictures like on Facebook and MySpace; they are like wearing your best clothes to non-uniform day at school, presenting these aspects of their personality. These avatars in particular identity the user very personally, their identity is visual, and visual says ‘I am here, this is me’. Similarly on Social Networking sites, an avatar acts as a calling card/ telephone number/ identification card etc, allowing others to find the user/ avatar. These kind of avatars will identity things about the user visually, their appearance with signify things about their personality, the user may present themselves in such a way to appeal to / fit in with a certain tribe / social group, as well as letting everyone else know what tribe / social group they are in. These avatars can also be the most expressive, for example a photographic avatar provides many ways for the user to express themselves, for example a picture with their friends enjoying some good old fashioned fun times, or a picture with their family, the user can show what is close to them, what they find important, as well as showing everyone how much fun they have.
At the same time, it provides a distancing device that turns person (user) into character (avatar), It is a fictionalizing tool that creates a new reality. By providing a distance between the user and their avatar they can create and play with a new reality, for example online social games like ‘Second Life’ provide the opportunity to create a whole new online life, this allows the user to escape into a world which could be entirely different from their own. Avatars often revel in the gap between the signifier and the signified: users enjoy creating avatars that are not like themselves, so that there is a big difference between signifier (avatar) and signified (user).The user creates a fabricated reality, in the case of social networking this can be similarly true; ““Teens often fabricate key identifying information like name, age, and location to protect themselves.” Users may also manipulate their avatar in a way to guard themselves, this quote explains that teen particularly fabricate key information about themselves, this could be as said to form a kind of protection, but this thought could be developed to explore the idea of teens portraying themselves as someone they are not to impress others, maybe they feel that they must fabricate information about themselves to fit in.
At the same time, it provides a distancing device that turns person (user) into character (avatar), It is a fictionalizing tool that creates a new reality. By providing a distance between the user and their avatar they can create and play with a new reality, for example online social games like ‘Second Life’ provide the opportunity to create a whole new online life, this allows the user to escape into a world which could be entirely different from their own. Avatars often revel in the gap between the signifier and the signified: users enjoy creating avatars that are not like themselves, so that there is a big difference between signifier (avatar) and signified (user).The user creates a fabricated reality, in the case of social networking this can be similarly true; ““Teens often fabricate key identifying information like name, age, and location to protect themselves.” Users may also manipulate their avatar in a way to guard themselves, this quote explains that teen particularly fabricate key information about themselves, this could be as said to form a kind of protection, but this thought could be developed to explore the idea of teens portraying themselves as someone they are not to impress others, maybe they feel that they must fabricate information about themselves to fit in.
