Virtual Avatars: Subjectivity in Virtual Environments

Abstract

From the computer-mediated realms of on-line "chats" to immersive virtual reality (VR), the experiential aspects of cyberspace generally, and VR in particular, seems to confound description and provoke discourses revolving around issues of identity, human agency and the body. These experiences both reify and disrupt boundaries between the "real" and "virtual" worlds. Screen-based multimedia often assumes the user is in a fixed position, capable interaction on a limited basis. Thus, there is little or no need to represent the user-he or she is simply a point-of-view, able to interact through a simple representation of a mouse or cursor. In computer-mediated multi-participant worlds, which range from text-based MOOs and graphical chats to three-dimensional and immersive VR, the user must choose an avatar to define and distinguish herself as a discrete entity. Thus, avatars are the very site where a user brings, modifies, problematizes and constructs a sense of self as distinct from others. Yet, the avatar is representations. This paper examines notions of subjectivity as they relate to users' experience, particularly through their representations, or "avatars," as a specific site of technological intervention in subjectivity.