My Self, My Avatar, My Rights? Avatar Identity in Social Virtual Worlds

This chapter will consider the particular nature of the relationship between the avatar and user in social virtual worlds for the purpose of understanding what legal rights and responsibilities may attach to the avatar in the event of interference with those rights. This chapter analyses various explanations of the nature and role of the avatar, including the concept of avatar as ‘cyborg,’ for the purpose of determining the impact that such a categorisation has upon the identification of appropriate legal rules in social virtual worlds. It concludes that the characterisation of the avatar/user relationship is a vital determinate of the appropriate laws and rules applicable to a particular online environment, however that characterisation may change over time and context, reflecting a range of different roles and purposes as the user’s online identity evolves.