An avatar for me please

It is January 2010 and a little over 10 years ago, we thought the world was going to end because of some glitch in the universe of bits and bytes. Here I am, still alive and thinking that the artist formerly and the recently known as Prince should release another song about 2029 or some distant time in the future. By now I was supposed to be living a life where computers and robots did everything for me. Indeed, there are people who live the virtual life, not going to stores or leaving home for anything including work. But it still isn’t main stream and there has to be a reason why.

Perhaps it is because we are people, and we like human contact. We want to walk down the street to the local grocery store and smile at the attractive cashier as we check out three items, two of which we didn’t come to the store for but decided we “needed” them. Or maybe it is because some of the things we do need us present, like trying on those really tight pair of jeans and having the sales person say they make you look sexy. Amazon.com has done a lot to close the online retailing gap by offering unlimited free shipping with their Amazon Prime service ($79 annual fee). Yet, there is still something missing.

Sitting in a seat at my local IMAX theatre at 1:30am (all other show times were sold out) I took in the 3D experience that is the movie, Avatar. I tried to understand why it has been so popular, along with social media such as Facebook. The answer is simple. That is what people like. We want to be able to engage with others in a virtual world. We like technology’s ability to enhance our experience. I want an avatar, a real life version of me online, along with websites where I can interact within 3D worlds.

My avatar would have to be me in all senses. It would have to look like me, think like me and feel like me. When I buy a plane ticket, I won’t have to ask for extra legroom or a non-middle seat. The airline would be able to see my representation online and ticket me accordingly. I will be able to try on clothes and see how they really fit in 3D, not like the forced paste-on version I see on sites like Zugara.com. Best of all for online marketers, my avatar will hold a complete list of all my preferences so they can provide me with specifically what I need when I turn the permission marketing button on in front of the virtual mall.