Profiles or Avatars

Profiles or Avatars

In William Mitchell article, Replacing Place he talks about how the internet is becoming a type of online coffee shop where one can go and meet other people. He talks about the evolution of avatars and online communities. He believes that online communities, where one creates a character to explore the online world Mitchell believes is the main way of networking in the future.

However Mitchell’s article is slightly dated and does not include profile sites, something that I feel is far more efficient than an avatar. With Profile sites like Myspace or Facebook one has the power to control what information about themselves they want to share and who there wish to network with by “adding” them as “friends”. This is highly different than an avatar. With an avatar you can create any character you want, you don’t have to be you. With this in mind I fear networking with avatars because you really don’t know who you are talking to. With a Profile site if you feel someone is suspicious, you can simply delete them from your friends list.

However Mitchell is right about one thing, digital communities are growing. One very popular online world is the World of Warcraft where gamers interact online with other gamers. Although not acting as themse3lves and instead a fictional character none the less this environment seems to grow every day.

Is Mitchell right are online communities replacing place, I don’t think so. Although it is providing us with another means of communication and networking, I have a felling that people will always meet in coffee shops and at the mall.