Ancestor Veneration Avatars

Abstract

It is possible at the present time to create virtual representations of deceased loved ones, and inhabit them as a way of expressing reverence and of dealing with one’s own feelings of loss, as demonstrated by this study in which 18 Ancestor Veneration Avatars (AVAs) were created. Most obviously, this can be done in massively multiplayer online role-playing games and comparable non-game virtual worlds. The identity of any individual person contains fragments of other people, most especially members of one’s family. In addition, people play a variety of roles, adopting identities temporarily that are more or less distinct from each other. Furthermore, a number of social scientists and commentators have suggested that individuals have become protean or multiplex, as rapid social change, multiculturalism, and the division of labor have eroded the functionality of unified identities. Finally, secularization has undercut traditional religious ways of managing feelings toward deceased relatives. A remarkable deduction from these observations is that many people should consider playing the role of a deceased loved one through an avatar in an online gameworld, as a form of emotionally satisfying ancestor veneration.