Your memory lives on with honors.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
Avs avs avs!!!
Once upon a time, back in the dark ages of my youth (I am feeling particularly ancient today), I read a Sci Fi book that touched on cyberspace and the avatars therein. Don't ask me to remember the name of the book as the title and the main plot have escaped me. This book lingers in my memory only because of the observation the author made about avatars.
In this fictitious world, the author claimed that avatars, representations of ourselves on the internet (avs), came in many different sizes, shapes and ideals. You could generally tell what kind of person you were talking to by the av they wore. Avs ran the gamut, but you could glean some useful information from them.
The working classes, for instance, tended to buy the mass produced avs that were sold at some Walmart equivalent. A three-pack of avs with the same basic features. You could choose hair color, eye color and body type according to the manufacturer's choices, but they all tended to look pretty much alike. Barbie and Ken avs, you could say.
Slightly more expensive, but still available at this Walmart equivalent, might be the avs that have come into being at Second Sight and other 3D chats online now. Perfectly proportioned men with ripped abs, nice heads of hair and all the stylish clothes. The female counterparts are slim with nice proportions of their own at chest level and the taut roundness of legs and buttocks a good many of us women wish for and don't have. These avs weren't quite as cheap as the Ken and Barbie avs, but they were still readily available.
Then there were the specialty avs. They were usually tweaked versions of the second category of avs. People played with these avs and "shaped" them into something a little more. . . outrageous. They were no less revealing, however. You can imagine the sort of person who would be willing to wear an av of a 6 foot tall penis, for instance, complete with a PA. Or even a woman with such a large bosom her head is just a little pimple positioned at the top of her cleavage. Trolls, perhaps, or people who have nothing better to do but wish for more sex.
Ironically, the avs that were the most revealing of status and personal taste were the ones that looked the most like "real people." Men in regular clothes who may or may not be part of the management of their jobs. Women who wear jeans and tshirts to grocery stores and showed evidence of an established life with a few children to care for. Hair would be styled, but not glamorous. Skin tones would be more realistic than Ken's or Barbie's. Body types were not mythologically proportioned.
It took more commitment to designing your av if you made it realistic. One had to think a little more in order to make skin tones realistic, or add the slight crows feet and laugh lines one would expect of realism in humanity. Thus, in this world, the realistic avs were the most expensive. You weren't doing badly if you could afford to look normal.
I tend to show off the products of my age a little more (by age, I mean place in time and not chronological age). Most of my avs use the kinds you might see at Second Sight, or more likely, the ones you find on MySpace pages. They're called "dolls," or "baby dolls." They're colorful little pixel creations that stand maybe half an inch high. If you get a large doll, it's maybe an inch high. The baby doll on this blog is MUCH bigger than most of the dolls I've seen. The larger ones tend to have a little bit of a sensual allure to them. I like the smaller ones. They're more mischief and playful.
Like me.
I also have a couple of avs that are "real people." Those tend to have a contemplative and thoughtful mood to them. There might be a little bit of sensuality underlining these avs, but it's never the main focus. These avs are for thought and expression; not for snagging trolls.
One thing is for sure: I will never be the type who chooses to be seen as a walking set of boobs.
In this fictitious world, the author claimed that avatars, representations of ourselves on the internet (avs), came in many different sizes, shapes and ideals. You could generally tell what kind of person you were talking to by the av they wore. Avs ran the gamut, but you could glean some useful information from them.
The working classes, for instance, tended to buy the mass produced avs that were sold at some Walmart equivalent. A three-pack of avs with the same basic features. You could choose hair color, eye color and body type according to the manufacturer's choices, but they all tended to look pretty much alike. Barbie and Ken avs, you could say.
Slightly more expensive, but still available at this Walmart equivalent, might be the avs that have come into being at Second Sight and other 3D chats online now. Perfectly proportioned men with ripped abs, nice heads of hair and all the stylish clothes. The female counterparts are slim with nice proportions of their own at chest level and the taut roundness of legs and buttocks a good many of us women wish for and don't have. These avs weren't quite as cheap as the Ken and Barbie avs, but they were still readily available.
Then there were the specialty avs. They were usually tweaked versions of the second category of avs. People played with these avs and "shaped" them into something a little more. . . outrageous. They were no less revealing, however. You can imagine the sort of person who would be willing to wear an av of a 6 foot tall penis, for instance, complete with a PA. Or even a woman with such a large bosom her head is just a little pimple positioned at the top of her cleavage. Trolls, perhaps, or people who have nothing better to do but wish for more sex.
Ironically, the avs that were the most revealing of status and personal taste were the ones that looked the most like "real people." Men in regular clothes who may or may not be part of the management of their jobs. Women who wear jeans and tshirts to grocery stores and showed evidence of an established life with a few children to care for. Hair would be styled, but not glamorous. Skin tones would be more realistic than Ken's or Barbie's. Body types were not mythologically proportioned.
It took more commitment to designing your av if you made it realistic. One had to think a little more in order to make skin tones realistic, or add the slight crows feet and laugh lines one would expect of realism in humanity. Thus, in this world, the realistic avs were the most expensive. You weren't doing badly if you could afford to look normal.
I tend to show off the products of my age a little more (by age, I mean place in time and not chronological age). Most of my avs use the kinds you might see at Second Sight, or more likely, the ones you find on MySpace pages. They're called "dolls," or "baby dolls." They're colorful little pixel creations that stand maybe half an inch high. If you get a large doll, it's maybe an inch high. The baby doll on this blog is MUCH bigger than most of the dolls I've seen. The larger ones tend to have a little bit of a sensual allure to them. I like the smaller ones. They're more mischief and playful.
Like me.
I also have a couple of avs that are "real people." Those tend to have a contemplative and thoughtful mood to them. There might be a little bit of sensuality underlining these avs, but it's never the main focus. These avs are for thought and expression; not for snagging trolls.
One thing is for sure: I will never be the type who chooses to be seen as a walking set of boobs.
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