The author, Mark Stephen Meadows, defines an avatar as “an interactive, social representation of a user”.  And here is where it gets interesting: while we may think of an avatar as something that only exists in a virtual world such as WoW or Second Life, he also points out that anytime we create an interactive, social representation of ourselves we are, in effect, creating an avatar. So that Facebook account you keep where you present the most interesting side of yourself to your “friends”: avatar. That blog you write where you put all of those highly intelligent posts: avatar.  Even that car you drive that tells everyone something about you: avatar.  The way I see it, all of us have multiple avatars, whether we use them in interactive online games or not.

So what does this have to do with Internet ministry?  It’s all about relationships. From the book:

When someone slips into an avatar, they slip into the ability to be competent, to be who they want, and to spend time with a community that they choose. Being able to do all three things at once is a rare experience for many people – perhaps because of appearance, gender, race, sexuality, age, or simply the fact that they want more friends of different sorts…

Second Life Avatar

Each avatar we encounter online, whether it be the more two-dimensional kind in Facebook or three-dimensional in WoW or Second Life, represent a real live human being with a soul. A person that is just as important to the Creator as we are.  This person has created their avatar as a way to connect with others in a new way. They are looking to connect!  And how do you connect with an avatar? While not addressed directly in his book, it seems that the author would caution against trying to get past the avatar to the person – he counsels that the important thing is the avatar and that the first step in the relationship is the avatar. Connecting with the “driver” behind the avatar may or may not happen.

This is a beautiful book that is both engaging and disturbing.  It includes some mature content describing activities that go on in some of these virtual worlds – if discussions of the acting out of alternative lifestyles bother you, you may not want to read it. If you are interested in the study of how to use virtual worlds and online gaming as a method for reaching others, then it is a book that will further your understanding.

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It has been said that progress in technology is driven by the porn industry. While I am sure that studying the latest innovations in online sex would be insightful (eye-opening?), I am not ready to do that in my class at Biola.  However, there is another driver for technological innovation: online gaming.  Specifically, I am referring to that class of online gaming known as “Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games” or MMORPG. These games allow a player to take on the role of an individual within some sort of fantasy world and interact with dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of other players. This shared experience leads to the development of culture, community, and even an economy. How does the experience in these games in the online world impact life of the participant in the physical world?  What lessons can those doing online ministry learn from the way players interact online or physically?

Perhaps the most extensive gaming community applicable to study would be World of Warcraft (WoW), with over fifteen million (yes: 15,000,000) active participants in the US alone.  I am, by no means, an expert on World of Warcraft or gaming culture, so if I intend on using WoW as a vehicle for study in my upcoming course, I will need to spend some time understanding it further and, yes, even playing it. I will also need to rely experts in this community to help me see how the study of WoW can shape and perhaps even influence what we do in Internet ministry.