Mark S. Meadows

I Avatar is a very useful addition to the books I already have on Second Life (Wagner James Au's and Tim Guest's foremost among them) and takes a different tack - looking at the implications of recreating our virtual selves on the screen. How is it that we feel so emotionally bound to this collection of pixels? How do they come to represent our real life selves? What aspects of our own personality split off from us? How do we manage our relationships with our other selves and with those we come into contact with in the metaverse? What cultures will we find there, and how do they evolve? The answers are both fascinating and important as millions of us are making the migration - choosing to live simultaneously on both sides of the computer screen, committing time and energy to building a virtual life. Meadows writes honestly of his experiences and highlights both the positive aspects of immersion in this new world - and also the darker side, including forced slavery, griefers and stalkers.

The glossiness of the book bumped up the price of the book considerably. (It cost me RM142 despite being relatively light on text - just 144 pages). But I appreciate having the illustrations which (quite rightly) pay homage to some of the great characters that Meadows befriended in the virtual world. The avatar he creates for himself if quite awesome!… (meer)