What is an Avatar?

An avatar is used online to visually express a person or his alter ego in chat rooms, on message boards or in video games. It can be as lifelike, silly, scary or fun as an individual wants it to be. They can say a lot about the people behind them.

Professional

When creating accounts on networking web sites such as LinkedIn or sites that sell user-posted products like eBay, an avatar is a way to show people who you are and instill confidence in them. A headshot or company logo work well and improve credibility.

Personal

Forums dedicated to all sorts of hobbies and their enthusiasts exist online. Anything goes in terms of an avatar on these sites as long as it doesn't violate the terms of service you agree to when you register a username. Avatars can be pictures, cartoons, twinkling graphics or images related to your hobby.

Creating an Avatar

Since avatars used in web forums are generally small, the image doesn't have to be large. Pictures you take yourself can be resized in a photo editing program and there are numerous online resources that stock graphics to use as avatars.

Etiquette

Some people enjoy creating custom avatars using photos they find online or art that they create. If you find an avatar you like that somebody else has made, it's good form to credit the person who created it, either in an information line, if available when you upload the image, or in the filename.

Gaming

Avatars can also be 3-dimensional representations created by players in an interactive video game world. Examples of these avatars are seen in online roleplaying games like World of Warcraft or Second Life.