Digital Avatar: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:Snow_Crash__Hiro_Protagonist_by_nClaireSnow Crash Hiro Protagonist by nClaire.jpg|link=Snow Crash|right|'Cause you can be way cooler inside a computer.<sup>[http://nclaire.deviantart.com/art/Snow-Crash-Hiro-Protagonist-132297300?offset=20\]</sup>]]
 
 
The modern form of [[Avatar]] that most people are likely to encounter in [[Real Life]]: a digital representation of a person in a computer world, broadly, the Internet. It can be as simple as the small graphic attached to posters' names on countless web forums, blogs, and the like; or it can be as complicated as a fully-animated 2D or 3D game character. For futuristic incarnations, add a dose of [[Virtual Reality]] to the mix. In some definitions, "avatar" is taken to mean "any game character you control"; in others (which is the definition used for this trope), a line is drawn between game characters and avatars that's more in line with avatar archetype. If Alice is controlling a character, like Mario, designed solely by the game designers, she's playing as that character. If she's controlling a character made to reflect her desired persona, almost always with a considerable degree of customization, she's controlling her avatar. This includes pretty much every [[MMORPG|MMO]] since MMOs have had graphics, and many if not most computer [[RPG|RPGs]]s also rely on it.
 
While the [[Ur Example|Ur Examples]]s can be found in old games -- thegames—the 1979 [[Dungeon Crawl]] ''Avatar'', the use of the Avatar in ''[[Ultima]] IV'' in 1985, the first online social world ''[[Habitat]]'' in 1987 -- the1987—the [[Trope Namer]] and [[Trope Codifier]] is generally thought to be [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[Snow Crash]]''. [[William Gibson]] had written about 3D characters in [[Cyberspace]] roughly 6 years earlier, but ''[[Snow Crash]]'' used the name "avatar" for them and ultimately popularized the concept.
 
In fiction, Digital Avatars are often found in [[Cyberspace]], particularly incarnations of [[The Metaverse]]. The inverse of the Digital Avatar is the [[Projected Man]], where a computer entity gets a digital representation to function in the real world. Just because it's not real doesn't mean there can't be romance: see [[Kiss Me, I'm Virtual]].
 
(Because the [['''Digital Avatar]]''' is now rather ubiquitous, please restrict examples to the most prominent ones: in non-interactive works where they are a notable part of the story, and in [[Video Games]] where their use is important and/or influential to others [[Follow the Leader|that came after them]].)
 
Compare [[Deep-Immersion Gaming]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[.hack]]'' tells its story from the viewpoint of the character's [[Digital Avatar|Digital Avatars]] in an [[MMORPG]].
** The exception is ''.hack//LIMINALITY'' which was focused entirely in the real world. It should also be noted that ''.hack//SIGN'' was the only series to display the real world in an off-color shade of blue, while very other series has used normal colors. Real Colors appeared in one real world segment of Sign however {{spoiler|at the very end and Tsukasa's player An Shoji is shown awake leaving the hospital and accidentally meeting the player behind Subaru}}
* ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'', being a textbook [[Cyberpunk]] setting, has the full virtual reality with customised avatars variant.
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Habitat]]/Club Caribe'', crated by [[Lucas Arts]] for the Comodore 64, was one of the first graphical online virtual worlds, a mostly social world with an "Adventuring" game component. The avatar concept is introduced a little differently than in the post-[[Snow Crash]] sense: Avatars are a separate species of being from humans led by an Oracle. The Oracle decided they were getting dull and lazy, and so initiated contact with humans to spice things up.
* In ''[[Ultima IV]]: Quest of the Avatar'', the [[Player Character]] fits the model of the [[Digital Avatar]], with its complex morality system and all, but the story of the game is about the player seeking to become the Avatar by embracing virtue and questing for the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom.
* ''[[Second Life]]'' is particularly known for the extensive free-form customization of its avatars, massively multiplayer [[Wide Open Sandbox|sandbox]] that it is. In any given public gathering you may find yourself next to any number of attractive humans, one or more dragons, [[Furry Fandom|furries]] and [[Petting Zoo People]], [[Anime]] characters, superheros, [[Cyberpunk]], [[Fantasy]] and [[Sci Fi]] personas in [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]], a wiggling jello mold, a toy-sized teddy bear, a [[Giant Mecha]], an abstract sculpture, an animated set of furniture...
* Every current major game console, bar handhelds, now have some form of personal presence with a 3d [[Digital Avatar]] as part of it. The [[Wii]] had its cute little Miis first; they've now added similar functionality to the 3DS. Sony introduced ''[[Playstation Home]]'' to the [[PlayStation 3]] as one of many [[Follow the Leader]] worlds being inspired by ''[[Second Life]]'' at the time (but without most of the freedom) and the [[Xbox 360]] introduced Mii-like cartoon avatars with its Xbox Live interface revamp.
* The player in ''[[Rez]]'' is the avatar of a hacker, deleting viruses in the K-Project.
 
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