Large video game companies are investing in the digital identity of their users.
What means avatar?
In Hindi, avatar refers to the body through which a god manifests himself among mortals on Earth. But in today’s society, when one hears the word avatar, it is generally understood to mean “a digital representation of a person.”
Realistic avatars in video games
From the earliest role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons, in the 1970s, gamers have been able to customise their role-play characters. However, a lot of things have changed since then and modern games allow players to customise avatars in an almost endless number of ways.
The use of realistic avatars in video games to represent the user is a trend that is taking off.
The avatar allows users to interact in many different contexts and spaces by imitating their actions. A virtual avatar can represent a user’s real or wished attributes, and this sense of embodiment enhances the game experience and engagement.
Interacting with a full-body avatar in an immersive space positively influences users’ awareness of their bodies.
Although the realistic avatar project is taking shape around the world, there is still a long way to go before our faces can be seen perfectly in the metaverse.
As for now, Union Avatars offers the top quality avatars and its integration in platforms such as VRchat, Unity, Somnium Space or Club mixed is raising, with more and more platforms adopting our API every month.
Implications in Web3 development
Web3 technology and the integration of avatars will help us break down the barriers of time, space and cultural differences, creating a more connected world.
Today we are using avatars to present ourselves on different digital platforms, not only in video games but also on social media networks such as LinkedIn or Facebook or in our signature at the end of emails.
Within 10 years, we could be using avatars to deliver critical skills and knowledge, in real-time, around the world. Doctors, teachers or psychologists could share skills from America to Europe, or even send those skills to the international space station.
Realistic Avatars to fight discrimination
It has been documented that a large number of women choose male avatars to avoid misogyny in games like WOW.
Avatars will help us fight social prejudice. Our avatars allow the customization of bodies, helping trans, non-binary or gender fluid people to reflect their identity. By doing so, we want to fight gender dysphoria and transphobia, to create a metaverse that leaves no one behind.
For the elderly or people with disabilities, immersive worlds and realistic avatar representations allow them to perform unique activities through which they can meet and interact with other people from other places without leaving their homes.
The future of Realistic Avatars
The truth is that for some years now, VR is been at the centre of videogames development, but since the Covid19 pandemic, it skyrocketed!
Since 2018, video games have become the largest entertainment industry globally, according to SuperData Research. According to Statista, it is estimated that by 2025 the value of the video games market will generate revenues of $270 billion.
Full immersion is gaining more and more ground in the world of video games. Virtual reality technology creates any world imaginable. The user can be anywhere in the world or in the universe and be whoever they want to be, be rather a completely new character, a superhero or simply an enhanced version of themselves.
Companies are working to develop gadgets that make the immersive experience as complete and real as possible.
Right now, virtual reality goggles are the star accessory, but this won’t stop there. Companies such as TeslaSuit are developing suits with haptic feedback systems and a myriad of sensors, through which the suit can transmit the sensations of the virtual world to the human body.
At some point, we will say goodbye to controllers and control the game with a brain-computer interface, allowing a sensor to read the player’s brainwaves and then process and interpret them in a machine.
The future is already here, but in the next ten years, we will make an astronomical leap.
How do you think the game industry will change in the coming years? Let us know in the comments!
