| Recently I read an article that talked about the new | | | | online to have fun, when I used to meet at the local |
| craze of having your own avatar on the Internet. An | | | | pizzeria or video game arcade. Human minds and their |
| avatar is a virtual representation of yourself, it is a | | | | inherent activities are reaching new levels of |
| character that you can design, sometimes even with a | | | | awareness and understanding. So enter the new |
| specific tone of voice. The idea (if I've gotten my head | | | | world of interaction and entertainment. Avatars turn |
| around it properly) is that you have a physical self that | | | | chat rooms into a tangible reality. |
| can interact with others together in a virtual world. | | | | It's strange that this new world is even called a hotel. |
| What a paradox! Physical beings visiting a virtual | | | | Hotels are places one goes to rarely. They are places |
| space are creating physical identities so that we can | | | | where all the rooms look the same. At the Habbo |
| relate to one another. Does this happen on other | | | | Hotel you can design your room to be a disco. (I saw |
| planets? One has to wonder. | | | | a sample room where a DJ was playing music to a |
| | | | room full of characters all dancing and boogying down.) |
| There are meant to be several new sites that have | | | | People go there, I assume, all the time to hang out with |
| sprung into existence based around the avatar | | | | their friends. I can see some real pluses for this |
| concept. supposedly has a form of instant messenger | | | | technology when your friends live on the other side of |
| where instead of seeing just words on the screen, you | | | | the city, or if you want to meet and talk to others on |
| can see and hear from a virtual apparition. There's also | | | | the other side of the world. |
| and the place I visited, At Habbo Hotel I became a | | | | Go check Habbo Hotel out, and if you're my age or |
| member, designed my character (avatar), who only | | | | older get your kids to. I wonder if you think it's safe. |
| looked a little like me, bringing the question to mind of | | | | Could there be strangers lurking dressed up as |
| how close to reality do people want their identities to | | | | teenage girls? That's my paranoid mind again. I think it |
| be? Should we be actual representations of ourselves, | | | | is great for being able to talk and have fun with other |
| or should we all be super-cool with green Mohawk | | | | human beings, especially friends you already know. My |
| haircuts? | | | | advice however is to be careful with what you say, |
| Inside Habbo Hotel I was told that I could wander | | | | especially with personal information. In a world of |
| around different rooms, talk to other 'habbos', play | | | | masks and mirrors, I am more prone to invest in a |
| games together, build a room for people to visit, and | | | | webcam or videoblog, where we can see the real |
| collect currency -I still don't know what for...It is deemed | | | | people behind the messages. Still, I didn't play any of |
| to be a virtual hangout, a place to meet your friends, | | | | the games so I could be missing out on a whole |
| meet new friends, send messages and have fun. I | | | | dimension of the site that connects with the minds of |
| didn't spend long on the site but I did have a go at | | | | the people. |
| talking to some other people. I don't know if I'm too old | | | | By Jesse S. Somer |
| (30) but it seemed many of the conversations were of | | | | Jesse S. Somer's 'Habbo' wears a purple shirt and has |
| a younger generation's dialect. I also got the impression, | | | | a big hat pulled down over his face. Could this be my |
| although I may be paranoid, that many of the people | | | | true identity? |
| already knew each other and weren't that interested in | | | | Jesse S. Somer is a creative writer working at M6.Net: |
| helping a newbie figure things out, or even talk to me. I | | | | 'The web-hosting company for humans.' M6.Net is |
| think I'll have to spend more time there to make my | | | | working hard to help humanity experience the power |
| real opinion but I did get the strange feeling in my heart | | | | and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, |
| that I used to get at school when the 'cool' kids didn't | | | | to share their information and connect with anyone, |
| want me to hang around with them. There were a lot | | | | anywhere, anytime. |
| of people hanging out at the swimming pool though. | | | | Summary: Avatars are giving people a physical |
| Someone is definitely getting into this new way of | | | | presence in the virtual world of the Internet. People can |
| connecting. | | | | create characters that look and sound like themselves, |
| Generation after generation human beings change and | | | | although they don't have to, and then relate to others in |
| evolve, so I don't want to discount any of the modern | | | | a giant hotel full of games. You can create your own |
| era's inventions for human interaction. Young kids now | | | | space and chat with people from all over the world. |
| have virtual pets like at whereas I used to have a cat. | | | | You can even dance together! |
| Is there anything wrong with that? Adolescents meet | | | | |