Meadows touches on how avatars become expressions of ones self and can allow for creating a social network through a virtual world. It’s interesting to see how widely popular these type of games have become. I believe this is due mainly to the escape that these games or “worlds” provide for its users. Whether it be a simplistic game like Mario or a more complex game with interactive narratives such as Second Life, each provide an outlet for users to perform acts that they are in capable of in their real lives. Virtual games allow its users to interact with others and experience worlds that range from a rather oridnary lifestyle to completely outrageous characters and environments. Each type of game provides entertainment to its users, which in some cases can start to affect their real lives.
Sometimes popularity can be a result of the creation of an online avatar. In the case of the Three White Girls from YouTube, despite their roles being fictional, each had their own identity and with it a large group of followers that could relate to their characters. Whether or not these characters were real, their avatars and even the people behind these avatars were able to increase their fame. While in virtual games people create avatars as expressions of themselves, in venues like YouTube avatars can be created that not only express the creator, but can gain followers of people that feel similarly, even when the creator is not truely expressing their real views.
A point of view can play a large role in what a user is able to get out of the environment that they are inhabiting. First-p0erson games don’t typically allow for much customability of its avatars because there is no need. This type of gameplay is usually mostly narrated for the user and can range from shooting to driving games. Third person games typically are setup for the user to be creative with their avatars, which are generally more expressive. Even in games such as Sims 2, there is a level of customability that is given to its users even though the social network is amongst the computer generated world and characters.
The creation of a character even in its most simplistic form allows for an alternate reality where expression and a diversion from the norm is encouraged. I believe Meadows is right when he says that virtual worlds, “will become increasingly popular and important as time goes on.” There are many untapped capabilities that these worlds could provide and it will be interesting to see how they will be utilized in the future.
