Ambiguity of Identity Project - changing your look

4. Changing your look
>>Sabrinaa suggested... an interactive exhibit where participants test out options to change the look of their av.

Changing my avatar look is some thing I do all the time.... but not every one is like that.

For me what my avatar looks like and how it moves relates to how I feel, who I'm with, what I am doing, what reactions I am likely to get, what reactions I want to get... obviously I am not a static personality (thos eof you who know me well .... stop laughing...) but also the fact i chaneg my avatar look a lot does not mean i change my mind a lot - I am not playing multiple roles or character, what you see at any one time is an aspect of RL me.

Avatars in SL only
Avatar in an online context can be anything form a default square image on a blog comment thread or IM chat client profile, to a chosen still or animated GIF, to a 2.5D cartoon in a 2d or 3d environment, or as in SL, an attempt at a photorealistic 3d representation within a virtual reality.

>>Body Language, eye contact. http://www.elearningfuture.com/practical-applications-of-research-how-humans-relate-to-avatars/
AOs and what they say or not say
This is still the hardest part of SL for me to suspend disbelief in. tThe animations our avatars make are not true reflections of what we would be doing in RL in the same situation. Often the body language of the avatar is at odds to what is being said or otherwise expressed (emoted in text for instance). Gestures go some way towards addressing this - or should do but their implementation and triggering is clunky and difficulty to set up. Not to mention the difficulty of finding suitable animations to start with.

Gestures
More to come

Shape, skin, clothing, attachment choices
Big lot to come here