The term, which comes from Hinduism, can be translated as “offspring”, that is, incarnation of a god or spirit.

The actual meaning of the avatar was coined by game designer Richard Garriott. In the 1980s, he became famous as the ‘Lord British’, and creator of the series of open-world fantasy role-playing ‘Ultima’. The first chapter was published in 1981, and the series sold over 2 million copies. Inspired by Hinduism, Garriott introduced the term ‘avatar’ in its current meaning to the 1985 chapter ‘Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar’. The player had the task of controlling the avatar and acquiring various virtues to finally receive the ‘Codex of Ultimate Wisdom’. Before undertaking the adventure, the player could choose the name, race (human, elf, dwarf, etc.). ), sex and other details of your character. In the previous Ultima III, the character was not yet called an avatar. The story had a dark but interesting tone, and for the first time, the player could choose not only between men and women, but also a third gender option.

Aligning the current meaning with Philip K. Dick’s approach, a human body can be interpreted as a physical representation of the mind of the human being (such as in the film ‘Avatar’), including its values, attitudes, knowledge and wisdom. The body, logically, is absolutely necessary, because without it we could not access any of this, or interact with it, and the mind and perceptions would not even exist.

As a child, Garriott's first dream was to become a NASA astronaut, like his father. Already in 1979, he programmed ‘Akalabeth: World of Doom’, the first computer role-playing game, and earned an income of $150,000, an impressive figure for the time. After editing more games from Ultima and founding a video game publisher, Garriott created a fortune. 

This allowed him to fulfill his childhood dream and fly in 2007 as a ‘tourist’ to the International Space Station. There he took the ashes of the late James Doohan, the actor who had incarnated Scotty in the Star Trek series.

The more information the platform has about the user, the more realistic it will be that the avatar can act autonomously while the user is disconnected. To do this, there must be a personal digital twin in the cloud that includes not only data – such as the external aspect, the standpoints – but also information and knowledge to predict behavior based on the situation, which the virtual being can run as a script. The better that prediction, the harder it will be to distinguish virtual from user-controlled avatar.

Ultimately, a virtual being doesn't have to be based on a human original. Using synthetic data, a VR platform can be home to many virtual beings, not distinguishable from avatars, which may be necessary to ensure that human users find the desired number of potential contacts on the platform.

The Alpha Generation (born between 2015 and 2025) can grow with avatars and virtual beings, so a (semi) autonomous copy can be perceived as a natural part of themselves, as today the ubiquitous ‘smartphone’, which is an evolution of current voice attendees. A virtual being can evolve from an avatar, as with the behavior observed the platform can deduct underlying knowledge and attitudes, leading to the issue of ownership, especially after a user leaves the platform.