Research into how online avatars are used has mostly concentrated on the agentic user controlling the passive avatar. With the proliferation, variety, and increasing uptake of online representations now available to individuals, however, we might more productively examine the relationship between what I call the avatar-persona and the user as one in which the avatar-persona also plays a part. Due to the affordances of parasociality and self-presence, a dialectic interaction develops between the user and the avatar as extended and extraordinary self. This dialectic enables the avatar-persona to express a certain degree of influence over the user in some circumstances. My discussion of these dynamics is illustrated from observations made during an extended participant observation in a multi-user virtual environment Second Life.

中文翻译：

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我是/我们是：探索在线自我头像关系

对如何使用在线头像的研究主要集中在控制被动头像的代理用户上。然而，随着个人现在可以使用的在线表征的扩散、多样性和越来越多的吸收，我们可能更有效地研究我所谓的化身角色与用户之间的关系，因为化身角色也在其中发挥了作用。由于准社会性和自我存在的可供性，用户和化身之间形成了一种辩证的互动，作为扩展和非凡的自我。这种辩证法使化身角色在某些情况下能够表达对用户的一定程度的影响。我对这些动态的讨论是通过在多用户虚拟环境 Second Life 中进行的扩展参与者观察期间的观察来说明的。