The avatar and the self...

In "Hyperidentities" by Miroslaw Filiciak, he makes a connection between the self and the avatar. He states that in the modern times in which we live, we have more options as to what way we want to portray ourselves as individuals. In previous eras, a person was defined by their profession. Today, the individual is defined by their interests and their hobbies, the work portion of their lives is used to fuel these entertaining activities. The avatar is an example of this. He argues that the avatar is not just an extention of the user, but the user itself, fulfilling themselves as an individual in cyber space. Much like the position of a career oriented individual of yesteryear, today's individual's independence, their importance, is derived who they choose to be, not who they have to be.