Avatars and Personas online and real world

At 1:15 is the New Zealand one – really really funny. And mean. But funny.

(in a grown-up voice) I don’t understand these people who play around with ‘avatars’ and have multiple personalities online. I mean, they’re not real, not like real people. At least we know what we are getting when we meet real people? Not that pretend stuff. You can’t trust people online, only flesh and blood, right? Heh. 🙂

A discussion I had yesterday with Il Paparazzo at AD:TECH

Her *clicking away with some big-ass camera* : What’s an avatar?
Me: A dolly online that you move around and make do stuff
Her: *puzzled* but where does the word ‘avatar’ come from?
Me: I think it’s from India, where a physical human body was prepared for incarnation (or birth) by a spiritual being or bodhisattva. So think of an online avatar as your pixel body and then you pour your spiritual higher being in, and embody an online persona.
Her *stops clicking*: Oh cool! (or similar)

I have the kookiest conversations at conferences. *giggles* @stilgherrian “O Great Pink-Toned Guru” indeedy. Next, I solve world hunger. After lunch.