This week we were given the task to create an Avatar of ourselves using objects from around our home which mean something to us. This is a great way to get to know my fellow students and also for our tutors to get to know us as well.
I started to think what is an Avatar? Is it just a face or does it include the body? Castronova (2003) defines an Avatar as “the avatar is the representation of the self in a given physical environment.”. This made me think that a face would work as long as it’s a physical representation of myself. I knew I had the Spelunky Collector’s Edition which includes a face so that was a good start.
I chose the collector’s edition of Spelunky because it is one of my favourite Indie games which has inspired me with amazing design and gameplay mechanics. It not only represents my love of Indie games, it also represents my love of collecting games. I bought this from Limited Run games as well as Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy and I’m currently waiting for Super Meat Boy Collector’s edition for PS4 (sadly the Vita version sold out very quickly). I love to have these rare games on display.
I have included my headphones as I used these on a daily basis. Whether it is listening to a podcast while I am working (I work from home), watching some youtube videos or going through Unity tutorials while developing a game, I pretty much live in them.
The “hair” is made out of leaves and neck is made from a log which represent the woodland festival which I attended this weekend. It had events such as Viking battles, wood carving and archery. It shows my love of nature. I enjoy taking the dogs out for a walk in my local woodland and find it very peaceful. I believe it is a good place to think and get inspiriation from.
The scarf was made for me by my girlfriend on our first Christmas together (we have been together for 4 years now). As the weather is turning cooler as it has resurfaced to be worn in the winter months. It is important to me as my girlfriend took the time to make it for me. She is very creative herself and has studied costume design. I always go to her with my ideas and she helps to develop them.
This was a great first task, not only to tell people a bit about myself but to get to know my fellow students as well. Symeonides & Childs (2015) suggest that this approach will benefit students as it helps to form an online learning community. I agree with this as it has made us interact with each other by leaving comments with their interpretations. Morwena commented to say that the background of my avatar got her to consider how this affects the overall mood which shows this is helping to build a learning community.
I haven’t posted any creative things in the past, in fact I feel I’m not a very creative person sometimes so I felt nervous about posting my avatar. After posting it I got quite a few positive comments. This made me think that I don’t need to worry about showing my creativity, if my peers give me constructive feedback then I can make notes of where I can improve and what I’m good at. This has given me more of a confidence boost which I hope I’ll bring forward to future weeks.
References
Castronova, E., 2003. Theory of the Avatar. [ebook] Bloomington: Indiana University, p.4. Available at: <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=385103> [Accessed 20 September 2021].
Symeonides, R. and Childs, C., 2015. The personal experience of online learning: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Computers in Human Behavior, 51, pp.539-545.
Richard Charles Ellis 