NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Avatar (virtual reality)

Among people working on virtual reality and cyberspace interfaces, an avatar (sometimes AV or av) is an icon or representation of a user in a shared virtual reality. The term is sometimes used on MUDs, in computer role-playing games, and shared non-gaming universes such as Active Worlds, There, Second Life, and The Palace. Example of an avatar used on forums File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Example of an avatar used on forums File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Virtual Reality (VR) is an environment that is simulated by a computer. ... Mac OS X Panther allows continuous scaling of icons up to 128x128 pixels A computer icon is a small pictogram, usually ranging from 16 by 16 pixels up to 128 by 128 pixels, which represents a file, folder, application or device on a computer operating system. ... In computer gaming, a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash style computer games and social instant messaging chat rooms. ... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives. ... Active Worlds (AW) is a 3D virtual reality environment. ... There Â© Copyright 2005 There is a subscription business model internet service created in 1998 by Will Harvey and Jeffrey Ventrella, consisting of an immersive PG-13 3-D virtual world which is complemented by 2-D web-based services. ... Second Life Logo Second Life is a privately-owned, subscription-based massively-multiplayer online game (MMOG) released to the public in 2003 by San Francisco-based Linden Lab. ... The Palace is a software program used to access two-dimensional virtual communities, also called palaces. ...

This definition has recently been applied to online virtual communities and Internet forums in particular, as a picture that a member/user of such a community/forum has elected to display alongside his or her contributions in order to represent him- or herself. Avatars have also become popular in instant messaging, and are sometimes referred to as buddy icons. The front page of SomethingAwful, a virtual community. ... Gaia Online, the largest English language forum-based community as of April 2005 â€” powered by a modified version of phpBB. An Internet forum is a facility on the World Wide Web for holding discussions, or the web application software used to provide the facility. ... A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface Instant messaging is the act of instantly communicating between two or more people over a network such as the Internet. ... A buddy icon is a small image associated with an instant messaging account, especially on AOL Instant Messenger. ...

Origin

The term "avatar" derives from the Sanskrit word Avatāra which means "descent" and usually implies a deliberate descent into mortal realms for special purposes. The term is used primarily in Hinduism, for incarnations of Vishnu the Preserver, whom many Hindus worship as God. The Dasavatara are ten particular "great" incarnations of Vishnu. The "Golden Avatar" popularly known as Gouranga is said to be the most recent descent. The 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu In Hinduism, an avatar or avatara or avataram(Sanskrit à¤…à¤µà¤¤à¤¾à¤°), is the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of an Immortal Being, or of the Ultimate Supreme Being. ... Sanskrit ( à¤¸à¤‚à¤¸à¥à¤•à¥ƒà¤¤à¤®à¥ ; pronunciation: ) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ... Hinduism {Sanskrit/Hindi - HindÅ« Dharma, also known as SanÄtana (eternal) Dharma, and Vaidika (of the Vedas) Dharma} is a religion originating in the Indian subcontinent, based on the Vedas and the beliefs of other people of India. ... The 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu In Hinduism, an avatar or avatara or avataram(Sanskrit à¤…à¤µà¤¤à¤¾à¤°), is the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of an Immortal Being, or of the Ultimate Supreme Being. ... For other uses of the name Vishnu, see Vishnu (disambiguation). ... A Gouranga installation on a railway bridge in Leicester. ...

As used for a computer representation of a user, the term dates at least as far back as 1985, when it was used as the name for the player character in the Ultima series of computer games. The Ultima games started out in 1981, but it was in Ultima IV (1985), that the term "avatar" was introduced. To become the "avatar" was the goal of Ultima IV. The later games assumed that you were the avatar and "avatar" was the player's visual on-screen in-game persona. The on-screen representation could be customized in appearance. This article is about the year. ... Ultima is a series of fantasy computer role-playing games from Origin Systems, Inc. ... Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, first released in 1985 (USCO# PA-317-504) for the Apple II, is the fourth in the series of Ultima computer role-playing games. ...

Later, the term "avatar" was used by the designers of the role-playing game Shadowrun (1989), the online role-playing game Habitat (1987) and was popularised by Neal Stephenson in his cyberpunk novel Snow Crash (1992), where it was used to describe the virtual simulation of the human form in the Metaverse, a virtual-reality version of the Internet. Social status within the Metaverse was often based on the quality of a user's avatar, as a highly detailed avatar showed that the user was a skilled hacker and programmer while the less talented would buy off-the-shelf models in the same manner a forumer would today. Stephenson has said that he invented this use of the word without knowing somebody else had done it first. Shadowrun is a cyberpunk-urban fantasy cross-genre role-playing game, set in the years 2050, 2060 or 2070 (depending on the game edition) following a great cataclysm that has brought use of magic back to the world, just as it begins to embrace the marvels (and dangers) of technologies... Habitat was an early and technologically influentual online role-playing game developed by Lucasfilm Games and made available as a beta test in 1987 by Quantum Link, an online service for the Commodore 64 computer and the corporate progenitor to America Online. ... Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (b. ... Listen to this article Â· (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2006-01-11, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Snow Crash, U.S. version cover shot, illustrated by Bruce Jensen. ... The Metaverse, a phrase coined by Neal Stephensons science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992) constitutes Stephensons vision of how a virtual reality-based Internet might evolve in the near future. ... Social status is the standing, the honour or prestige attached to ones position in society. ... A hacker is a person who creates and modifies computer software and computer hardware, including computer programming, administration, and security-related items. ... A programmer or software developer is someone who programs computers, i. ...

Avatars on internet forums

Despite the widespread use of avatars, it is unknown which internet forums were the first to use them. Avatars on Internet forums serve the purpose of representing users and their actions, personalizing their contributions to the forum, and may represent different parts of their persona or social status in the forum. Gaia Online, the largest English language forum-based community as of April 2005 â€” powered by a modified version of phpBB. An Internet forum is a facility on the World Wide Web for holding discussions, or the web application software used to provide the facility. ... A persona is a social role, or a character played by an actor. ...

The traditional avatar system used on most Internet forums is a small (100x100 pixels, for example) square-shaped area close to the user's forum post, where the avatar is placed. Some forums allow the user to upload an avatar image that may have been designed by the user or acquired from elsewhere. Other forums allows the user to select an avatar from a preset list. A pixel (pix, 1932 abbreviation of pictures, coined by Variety headline writers + element) is one of the many tiny dots that make up the representation of a picture in a computers memory. ... This article is about the computer terms. ...

Other avatar systems exist, such as on Gaia Online, where a pixelized representation of a person or creature is used, which can then be customized to the user's wishes. The Gaia Wing. ...

Avatars in games

Avatars in video games are essentially the player's physical representation in the game world. In most games, the player's representation is fixed, however increasingly games offer a basic character model, or template, and then allow customization of the physical features as the player sees fit. For example, Carl Johnson, the avatar from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, can be dressed in a wide range of clothing, can be given tattoos and haircuts, and can even body build or become obese depending upon player actions. Computer and video games A screenshot of Tetris for the Nintendo Game Boy A console game (better known as a video game) is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment, which consists of a moveable image displayed on a screen that is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld... Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the fifth video game in the Grand Theft Auto series. ... A tattoo is a design or marking made by the insertion of a pigment into punctures or cuts in the skin. ... Street haircut in Harbin, China For humans, a haircut, hairstyle or hairdo normally describes cutting or styling head hair, rather than other body hair such as facial, underarm hair, or pubic. ... Swedish bodybuilder Anders Graneheim. ... Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and mammals is increased to a point where it is thought to be a significant risk factor in certain health conditions, leading to increased mortality. ...

Aside from an avatar's physical appearance, its dialogue, particularly in cut scenes, may also reveal something of its character. A good example is the crude, action hero stereotype, Duke Nukem. Other avatars, such as Gordon Freeman (from Half-Life), reveal very little of themselves, allowing the player to project onto them (see also: silent protagonist). A cut scene or cutscene (sometimes also referred to as a cinematic) is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no control. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Duke Nukem is an action hero created by computer game developer 3D Realms/Apogee Software. ... Half-Life 2 concept art of Gordon Freeman holding his signature weapon, the crowbar. ... Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ... Psychological projection (or projection bias) can be defined as unconsciously assuming that others have the same or similar thoughts, beliefs, values, or positions on any given subject as oneself. ... A silent protagonist is a central character who does not verbally interact with other characters within a storys narrative. ...

Avatars in instant-messaging programs

AOL Instant Messenger was the first popular instant-messaging program to use avatars, picking up on the idea from PC games. However, users of AIM and many other IM services commonly refer to avatars as buddy icons. Today, many popular instant-messaging programs use avatars, including MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. AIM redirects here. ... A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface Instant messaging is the act of instantly communicating between two or more people over a network such as the Internet. ... A buddy icon is a small image associated with an instant messaging (IM) account. ... MSN Messenger is Microsofts instant messaging client for Windows computers aimed toward the home user, Among its users it is often referred to as MSN, though in Latin America and Spain it is known as el Messenger, as other instant messaging clients are less popular there. ... Yahoo! Messenger is a popular instant messaging client and protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic Yahoo! ID which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when...

Avatars in non-gaming universes

Avatars in non-gaming universes are used as two-dimensional or three-dimensional human or fantastic representations of a person's self. Such representations can explore the virtual universe with which they are in using their avatar, add to it, or conduct conversations with other users, and can be customized by the user. Usually, the purpose and appeal of such non-gaming universes is to provide a large enhancement to common online conversation capabilities, and to allow the user to peacefully develop a portion of a non-gaming universe without being forced to strive towards a pre-defined goal. 2-dimensional renderings (ie. ... The Fantastic is a literary genre of writing or art which intrudes fantasy elements into a story (or picture) that is basically representational or real-feeling. ... In cognitive psychology a representation is a hypothetical internal cognitive symbol that represents external reality. ...

The criteria avatars in non-gaming universes have to fulfill, in order to become useful, can depend to a great extent on, for example, the age of potential users. Research suggests that younger users of virtual communities put great emphasis on fun and entertainment aspects of avatars, as well as on their practical functionalities (e.g. whispering). Younger users are furthermore interested in the simple ease of use of avatars, and their ability to retain the user’s anonymity. Meanwhile, older users pay great importance to an avatar’s ability to reflect their own appearance, identity and personality. Additionally, the majority of older users want to be able to make use of an avatar’s expressive functionalities (e.g. showing emotions), while being prepared to learn new methods of navigation, in order to handle the use of more complex avatars. The front page of SomethingAwful, a virtual community. ... Anonymity is derived from the greek word Î±Î½Ï‰Î½Ï…Î¼Î¯Î±, meaning without a name or name-less. ... // Computer programming In object-oriented programming, object identity is a mechanism for distinguishing different objects from each other. ... It has been suggested that Personality psychology be merged into this article or section. ...

Avatar-based non-gaming universes are usually populated by those age groups, whose requirements concerning avatars are fulfilled. The majority of users of Habbo Hotel, for example, are of the age of 10 to 15. The reason for this might well be found in the properties and functionalities provided by the avatars of this virtual community. In contrast, There has a target audience ranging from the age of 22 to 49. The avatars incorporated into this immersive environment allow for a wide range of social interactions, including the expression of emotions. Another example is The Palace, where the majority of users seem to belong to an older age group. Here, users have the option to use their own images as avatars. This functionality turns the avatar into a direct reflection of their real-life appearance, a feature most desired by members of older age groups. Again, the population of the non-gaming universe seems to be largely determined by the properties and functionalities of its avatars. Regular Habbo Hotel activity in a guest room Habbo Hotel is a virtual community that combines the concept of both a chat room and online game, owned and operated by Sulake Corporation. ... There Â© Copyright 2005 There is a subscription business model internet service created in 1998 by Will Harvey and Jeffrey Ventrella, consisting of an immersive PG-13 3-D virtual world which is complemented by 2-D web-based services. ... The Palace is a software program used to access two-dimensional virtual communities, also called palaces. ...

Virtual model

Digital fashion models have been promoted, using the latest in computer-generated imagery, but these are usually not avatars, since their creators and/or the operators of motion capture systems which are often used to make them move are kept in the background or ignored, as if the model had its own invented personality. A model is a person who acts as a human prop for purposes of art, fashion, advertising, pornography, etc. ... The pseudopod in The Abyss marked CGIs acceptance in the visual effects industry. ... Motion capture, or mocap, is a technique of digitally recording the movements of real things — usually humans — it originally developed as an analysis tool in biomechanics research, but has grown increasingly important as a source of motion data for computer animation. ...

Many digital models using simpler Computer-generated imagery techniques are used in Web commerce to model fashion corresponding to a user's body shape, size and look or to give an idea of the results of exercise and diet. They are relatively static but fully interactive avatars of their users. Web commerce is a form of electronic commerce that is conducted primarily through the World Wide Web, but may also utilize email and other aspects of the internet. ...

Large U.S. retailers such as L. L. Bean and Sears use virtual models as a way to have their customers "try" their clothing in their digital stores. An international company such as Lands' End uses virtual models on its British, Japanese and German sites as well as its U.S. one. L.L. Bean is a retail and catalog company based in Freeport, Maine, specializing in outdoor equipment and clothing. ... Sears Holdings Corporation NASDAQ: SHLD is the third largest retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart and The Home Depot. ... Lands End is a Dodgeville, Wisconsin-based clothing retailer specializing in casual clothing, luggage, and home furnishing. ...

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