Virtual Avatars

Further to my somewhat disjointed post on advertising and the purchase of products. I began to think about the purchase of video games, as it is possible to lose yourself in an entirely different reality.

Like forums and chatrooms, where anonymity exists to a point where one can create a personality for onesself, an increasing amount video games allow this to be done visually through the creation of an avatar. Although there generally are some limiting factors, such as the type of player your are e.g. Golfer, Soldier, Goblin, but you can specify your own height, weight, body shape, hair colour etc. Therefore, a virtual avatar could be an extension of our personality which provides some degree of emotional resonance.