myLot Avatars- the coral reef of the minds.
By Wanderlaugh
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
Australia
May 1, 2007 12:32am CST
I think avatars are a kind of social ecology, in subliminal form. People fill their environmental niches with their images:
1. The Cats and Dogs. There are a lot of these, mainly spreading furry propaganda, and thus keeping up some semblance of civilization on the net as a whole.
2. The Cartoon characters. Manga or Western, these come from the legendary “outside” into forums, reminding us of higher things.
3. The icons. Founders of societies, you can say as much with an image of someone or something as you can in an entire newspaper.
4. Humans. No idea what they represent, but then, nobody’s ever really known what a human’s supposed to mean.
5. Functional images, like computers, cars, money, etc. This is the infrastructure component, providing habitats and other frames of reference. Maybe even like landmarks, so you know where you are, or aren’t.
6. Sword and Sorcery. They come from a post-everything forum, in which magic and myLot are merged, (I wanna meet Red Sonja) and from which we hope will lead to a sort of Harry Potter/Lord Of The Rings movie, with appropriate royalties, will result.
7. Flowers. Daisies, roses, the whole basis of pollination using a keyboard.
8. Miscellaneous/indescribable. The strange creatures that inhabit the dark places and the light, dwellers in topics and other odd haunts.
How’s this for a theory- If an image is what you want to look like, does it mean that it is what you actually are, or what you’re trying to become? (For the humans, this may be taking the concept of an “own goal” a bit too literally, but…) Either way, what sort of society would you get, and what sort of environment would you expect?
1 person likes this
2 responses
@unusualsuspect (2602)
• United States
1 May 07
Interesting, but maybe a bit of a tempest in a teapot. And definitely too abstruse for the general run of point-seekers.
I've decided that avatars are generally pretty non-interesting because to the extent that they reveal the person, they reveal someone who's not interesting. Do I really want to talk to someone whose avatar is their favorite movie star or a picture of their puppy or baby? Within a game environment like Second Life, avatars may have real meaning, but on forums and elsewhere, they're just a handy identifier (as long as the person isn't addicted to changing them constantly.
By the way, I've broken my no-friends rule and have sent you a request. There are very, very few people whose discussions I have any interest in tracking. No point leaving it to pure chance that I'll stumble over yours again.
2 people like this
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
2 May 07
Yeah, agree about the banal-ability of some of them. We get some contrasts, though. There's one lady who uses/used a manga character, not of itself too interesting, but she used to get into the most complex, fiery discussions, and did thousands of them. I'm an artist, as well as a reason for new taxonomy, (and perhaps shooting Linnaeus) and it always interests me how people consciously represent themselves. It's quite bizarre.
Second Life avatars are pretty interesting. I arrived there for the tutorial, and within seconds I had some redhead in lingerie talking to me, which was a bit of a waste because I'd literally just logged in for the first time and had no idea how to reply. Sigh... well, probably not, given how misleading some of those avatars are, but on principle...
I also have a no-friends rule, which I'm also probably going to break sometime, I promise you, sentient replies are always welcome.
1 person likes this
@unusualsuspect (2602)
• United States
2 May 07
I can agree that Linnaeus is a bit out of date, but shooting him? Seems a bit extreme. New paradigms for classification are probably in order though.
Have to admit that my knowledge of Second Life is second hand. It's probably lucky that I'm on dialup with a slow, underpowered computer. I don't need another addiction.
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
2 May 07
In fairness, Second Life is interesting. I'm not too keen on the Instant Everything motif of this culture, but even with my limited experience of Second Life, as a glimpse of H. Sapiens in self-idealized mode, it's fascinating. People can be so showoffish, and so inept, simultaneously. The whole gamut, literally, of lousy taste, social pathologies, superficiality, all packed in to an open ended map.
I even learned to teleport on my first lesson, and landed at some dance club, practically cheek by jowl with a lot of people who probably have the same video cards as I do, a sort of mob of more or less humanoids in white tops and jeans. Apparently some people arrive there before their clothes, too.
My real objection to Linnaeus is that he's such a gossip.
@Tetchie (2932)
• Australia
2 May 07
An interesting analogy which I find amusing and yes I can see in some posters how you could categorize the avatar in accordance with the post content. That's a deep statement - 'If an image is what you want to look like, does it mean that it is what you actually are, or what you're trying to become.' There must be some resonance to make you use a particular avatar, otherwise why choose it in the first place. So you're statement is subliminally spot on.
What of the baby pictures, which personally I find difficult to respond to - I've never had an intelligent conversation with anyone under 2 years of age. So do you think mainly the felines and canines are furry mongers? Or did I misunderstand that one?
But I don't mind the miscellaneous/indescribables as I love to tune in and see who is behind the masks. Mind you, sometimes I wish I hadn't bothered, other times there are amazing people hiding in the strangest places. Some you need a light bulb, others blind you with brilliance.
1 person likes this
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
4 May 07
Sorry, Tetchie, I've been flat out and didn't see this one until just now.
We had some guys on here a few months back whose avatars were the sexiest women they could upload, for that reason. But- what a letdown! Check out the profile- M, 20, Texas... Ghastly, it was. Me depraved voyeuristic 'eart was broke, it were.
Disguise by pretending to be something else is a natural defence among reef fish, too. I have a feeling that fish might not react like that, though.
...Well, sharks, maybe...
@Tetchie (2932)
• Australia
2 May 07
A person who puts up an avatar of a sexy model holding an animal in her arms - you either have a very self-conscious woman who wants to look like that and be seen as sexy, or you have a woman who thinks that by putting up this image she will get more posts. The crazy thing she often does regardless of the quality of the subject. Isn't that true to real life as well. LOL.
@unusualsuspect (2602)
• United States
2 May 07
"I love to tune in and see who is behind the masks." And other times, there's absolutely nobody behind the curtain (mask). LOL
I'm not sure what the baby pictures are. Some of them are too gross to be the user's own child. Maybe avatars *should* be an entirely new branch of social psychology.
