Why a manifesto?
If you have spent any amount of time in social XR, you will understand the transfixing power of digital presence. Even with today’s limited fidelity, avatars can feel real. Social interactions with people in XR can feel magical, intimate, and sometimes unnerving. There have been a few reported cases of abuse in virtual worlds dating back to the 90s. Many of them stem from platforms not being prepared to handle the ways bad actors use the technology. Sometimes it’s because platforms did not provide the proper systems to protect the user. I believe that it is important for us to come together to create mechanisms to safeguard users by safeguarding their digital selves.
Future realities can feel magical, intimate, and sometimes unnerving.
We need to come together to create mechanisms to safeguard users by safeguarding their digital selves.
The three principles
Equity
over Exclusivity
We will aspire to create opportunities for representation and inclusion.
We will bias for making things available to all users.
Agency
over Automation
We will focus on translation instead of simulation.
A user should always feel in control.
Clarity
over Efficiency
We want the user to always know what’s happening.
Even if it means the flow has friction points.
The evolution of embodiment
We have found ways to personify ourselves in the many tools we use to communicateIllustration by Jean-Marc Côté (1899) a French image series depicting scientific advances imagined as achieved by the year 2000
From adding illuminations to manuscripts to the invention of moving pictures and televisionPhoto by Eadward Muybridge | The Horse in Motion (1878) considered in history to be the first ever motion picture to be made.
We defy distance by finding ways to ‘feel’ there when we can’t ‘be’ there.Photo Free to use under the Unsplash License
ASCII
Emoji
Stickers
Avatars
Avatars from Bitmoji and Roblox
We can see this in how we have evolved from the use of crude pictograms using ASCII characters to show how we feel, to colorfully expressive emojis, to 2D avatar stickers, and now with 3D rendered avatars of ourselves expressing in real-time.
Avatar technology has been commonplace in video games for decades.The technology has evolved from users personifying themselves as pixels on screen, or words on a MUD or chat, to the full-on representations we see today.
Avatars from Roblox
What is an avatar?
Avatar (Sanskrit: अवतार, avatāra; pronounced [ɐʋɐtaːrɐ]) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means “descent”. It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth.
An Avatar is an embodied manifestation of the self in digital form.
What is NOT an avatar?
It is important to understand that traditional game characters are not Avatars. They may satisfy the embodiment part of the definition but they are disqualified from being avatars as they are manifestations of predefined characters with a specific goal assigned by the game creator.
Playable Characters
Non-Playable Characters
By the numbers
Metaverse Fashion Trends 2022 – Roblox x Parsons
Half of Gen Z Users say they change their avatar’s clothing at least every week.
Dressing their avatars allows them to express their individuality (47%) and feel good about themselves (43%).
2 in 5 respondents said expressing themselves with clothing and accessories in the digital world is MORE important than expressing themselves in the physical world.
Respondents noted the importance of having a full range of skin tones (said 70%) and a full range of body shapes (64%), along with a full range of hair colors, textures and styles (70%).