Avatar as Second Suit: Power and Participation in Virtual Work

This article provides an analysis of the experiences of user–avatar relations and interaction of people who work in a virtual world. Earlier research often claims that relationships between users and their avatars are, by nature, strong and intense. By analyzing individuals who conducted paid labor in a number of public institutions in a virtual world, this article argues that the frame of work heavily influenced the professional users’ experiences of using an avatar. The user–avatar relationship was mainly related to how and why the user entered the virtual world, their position in their off-line and online workplaces and, as a result, related to aspects of power and control over the framing of the online arena. Because of these factors, many of the professional users regarded their avatar more as a second suit than, as has often been argued, a second self