Randy Farmer just announced on his new blog (see Ted's post below) that Yahoo! Messenger 6.0 is incorporating avatars. Perhaps this means that in the near future, one won't get the "ava-what?" and have to explain the origins: Hinduism, Snow Crash, Richard Garriott, Habitat, etc...
So there's greglas, at right. (He blinks when he's not just a screenshot.) The Beta is giving the standard customization options we've come to expect: hair-styles, clothes, gear. The question on my mind, of course (and perhaps hinted at by Randy through his link to this article): how soon will Yahoo! start selling "premium" accessories & virtual presents a la FunHi or There.com? Because, you know, there's a real market for all that stuff. :-)
Update: Looks like Yahoo! knows that already...
I misread that post and thought it read that AOL 9.0 is including avatars. But it does not seem to be. Mmm, if Yahoo is gona have them then AOL 9.1 ‘invasion of the avatar’ cannot be far behind.
There is quite a history of simple 2D avatars in chat systems isn’t there? I’m sure I remember seeing a Compuserve version years ago, and certainly when fancy-pants teleconferencing was trying to be all the range rudimentary avatars were used as part of proprietary systems to attempt to give a sense of place for the virtual meeting.
Posted by: Ren | Apr 28, 2004 at 17:30
Ren> There is quite a history of simple 2D avatars in chat systems isn’t there?
Yes. TL and Betsy both have written about avatars in 2D chat-oriented VWs. And there is a history of paying real $ for avatar customization in those VWs as well -- some of that is in Betsy's latest paper when she talks about "Super Scott" in V-Zones and furni in Habbo.
Posted by: greglas | Apr 28, 2004 at 19:08
Insiders were betting that There would be acquired by Yahoo. Guess they decided to go ahead and avatar-ize on their own.
Posted by: Edward Castronova | Apr 28, 2004 at 19:19
Just wait Greg...I bet soon you'll be able to upgrade to SuperGreg!
One thing I love about VZones/Avaterra/WorldsAway/Habitat (did I miss any names?) is the fact that the interchangeable heads of avatars were used as currency and head-stealing was apparently a big problem. If I remember correctly, the tutorial for VZones actually warns you to make sure you put your extra heads in your pocket to keep them safe from head-stealers.
Many 2D avatars are indeed like paper dolls but they can be quite elaborate and have as many interchangeable elements as 3D avatars.
The Yahoo avatars remind me of a certain style of 2D avatars called "dollz" or "dolliez" that I first saw in the Palace in the late 1990s. Within the past few years dollz have moved beyond their virtual world origins to grace thousands of home pages belonging to girls who love to display them on their sites, trade them, collect them, hold voting contests for their favorites, etc. Click here for a sample dollz page.
Posted by: Betsy Book | Apr 28, 2004 at 20:27
Not Macintosh friendly. :(
As usual. Sigh.
Posted by: Hanna | Apr 29, 2004 at 01:57
Greg wrote:
>>Ren> There is quite a history of simple 2D avatars in chat systems isn’t there?
>Yes. TL and Betsy both have written about avatars in 2D chat-oriented VWs.
I saw the v-zone stuff in Betsy’s paper. I was thinking further back to graphical BBSs / chat systems (do these count as VWs? How 'worldlike' does something have to be to be a VW does it have to have a persistent environment that can be modified by a user in a way that other users can see over time?).
Actually I wonder if anyone knows what the first use of an avatar in an synchronous communication technology was. Q-Link I think was the first ‘graphical’ bbs but don’t know of them using avatars.
Posted by: Ren | Apr 29, 2004 at 04:38
Betsy Book>The Yahoo avatars remind me of a certain style of 2D avatars called "dollz" or "dolliez" that I first saw in the Palace in the late 1990s
Have you seen KiSS dolls?
Get a viewer from here and some dolls from here.
If you can't be bothered to download a viewer but have broadband, see here for a Java example that runs in your browser. Clothes are drag-and-drop. Set 0 doesn't do a lot, so try some of the later sets.
My kids love this stuff...
Richard
Posted by: Richard Bartle | Apr 29, 2004 at 08:52
In the long run, the bigger news may be the inclusion of Yahoo's "Launch" music service and 2D games. It's impressive how many folks -- Real/Rhapsody, There.com, EA/Pogo, at least -- are going to be impacted by this "IM client." Kudos to Randy and the rest of the Yahoo team as it is an impressive blend of features and ease of use -- well, except for the fact that Mozilla causes it to barf and no Mac version.
Posted by: Cory Ondrejka | Apr 29, 2004 at 10:21
Yahoo Japan's had avatars for a while with premium content. The clothes, mostly high fashion accessories, sell for about 80 yen (around 75 cents) each, and they are extremely cute.
Posted by: Emily | Apr 29, 2004 at 14:52
Thanks for the lead, Emily!
I just found this, circa two days ago: http://www.beltzner.ca/ifeelafel/archives/000487.html
It has links to the Yahoo! Japan and Korea avatar sites. (My Japanese, however, is very rusty!) Google also produced a report which seems to indicate that Yahoo! is pleased at the way this is rolling out in Japan and is looking at the best way to further expand/monetize it there. http://docs.yahoo.co.jp/info/investor/en/bizres/present/20030717/030717-1q-present-en-bus.pdf.
Who knows, but I expect if Yahoo! finds a market here for avatar clothing, AOL, MSN, etc., won't be far behind...
Posted by: greglas | Apr 29, 2004 at 15:13
So I just noticed Ted is speaking at Yahoo! Research Labs on May 5.
http://business.fullerton.edu/ecastronova/
Connect the dots!
Posted by: greglas | Apr 30, 2004 at 12:02
who has a funhi invite?
Posted by: joeting | Jul 13, 2004 at 02:48
i would like to see on the male avatars some mustaches go-tees and beards or long side burns and ect....would u all be able to do that? maybe some long hair in the back of heads and so on...
Posted by: jeffrey ray jackson | Jul 17, 2004 at 19:49
type "grrr" into your convo and watch its reaction
Posted by: PAUL | Jul 29, 2004 at 20:49
hi there
I like to tell you that this site http://cartoondollz.net/ uploaded a virus to my PC automatically, and mcafee antivirus detects it :)... making another test (opening a new page)
got its name (JS/Keylog-Briss.ldr)
Regards
Motlib
Posted by: motlib | Aug 05, 2004 at 20:45
Hi, Yahoo Avtars are real cool and i find it really interesting to change clothes every wekk or so... Kepps us fresh... But just a little suggestion.. could you include clothes from all nationalities of the world in the apparels.. and a long skirt and a full covered top and all would be really welcome by us... We do like the indian type dresses to be included.. so we can imbibe ourselves into our avtar... :-) i thing that would be welcome by lots.. thank you for considering my suggestion...
Regards..
Misiriya
Posted by: Misiriya | Sep 17, 2004 at 03:00
Hi
Now only are the avatars totally awesome, but you can finally use cool pictures like in AIM and stuff. A site with a lot of pictures: Yahoo Avatars
If anyone else knows any great sites, post em here!
Posted by: Wesson99 | Sep 25, 2004 at 07:12
Hi,
This is my own site with free avatars for MSN Messenger and Yahoo... added a new twist to the avatar thing... people can use their own faces.
http://www.my-toons.com Comments welcome.
Posted by: Biff | Sep 28, 2004 at 06:39
you should do games to use our avitars !!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: suhei valdivia | Oct 13, 2004 at 17:21
another update on those yaho avatars. Check out this yahoo avatar installer for messenger 6.
Yahoo avatars installer
Posted by: Wesson99 | Oct 16, 2004 at 01:31
I love avatars ther're the best and cutest
Posted by: marieka | Oct 25, 2004 at 18:52
my avators do not open because of shockwavw i want to change me avatar please help me
Posted by: tasneem | Nov 09, 2004 at 02:36
The avatars are the best. They are so cute
Posted by: Fish | Dec 07, 2004 at 18:22
They Are So Cute....They look Awesome
Posted by: The Bitch | Dec 13, 2004 at 18:12
I love the avtatrs!But the thing i dont like about them are the backgrounds.And the pants are wierd only the rock star pants are the ony good ones!Please have better pants!
Posted by: felicia | Dec 21, 2004 at 23:59
i like the avatar little,it`s not bad
Posted by: shrawan | Dec 31, 2004 at 04:44
Yahoo Avatars r cute.. The only thing they need more of is the punky/goth clothes. Get more of that and lots more people will start using them!!
Posted by: B-Dizzle | Jan 13, 2005 at 18:20
hai
see thi and enjoy
Posted by: harish | Feb 06, 2005 at 05:23
i like to make avatar very much,,,i make it everyday,,but when i submit it does'n't comes in display,,,....n one more thng,,can u make it 3d or do like tat we make the avatars of our choice,,u gettng me wat m tryng to say....means differnt beds,,acessories,diffent clothes everyday..,,n etc,etc,,so people will enjoy more i hope u do tat n u understand me,,
Posted by: sana | Feb 20, 2005 at 14:01
i would liek to no if ya could hep me get tehm cool heads by ur anem for yahoo pool like allstar memebrs
thnxs kyle
Posted by: kyle | Mar 11, 2005 at 00:23
i would liek to no if ya could hep me get tehm cool heads by ur anem for yahoo pool like allstar memebrs
thnxs kyle
Posted by: kyle | Mar 11, 2005 at 00:24
I love yahoo avatars.
Posted by: Cassandra | Mar 31, 2005 at 21:10
if you have yahoo messenger IM me at i_love_animals_4ever. i really like avatars but what is this site about?
Posted by: Cassandra | Mar 31, 2005 at 21:13
i think yahoo is the best site in the world, i mean it has the greastest online chat you can have msn is o.k. but i love YAHOO THE BEST!!! actualy i dont like yahoo meassenger i LOVE IT!!!!!
Posted by: kali | Apr 06, 2005 at 20:07
I DONT LIKE YAHOO MESSENGER I LOVE !!! ITS wayyyyyy BETTER THAN MSN CHAT I HATED IT ...LOL TO ALL YOU YAHOO MESSENGER KIDS
Posted by: KALI SHEPHERD | Apr 06, 2005 at 20:09
I was looking for avatars to use when I play in yahoo games...Is there such a thing that one can download to use in the yahoo games or are we stuck with the ones that yahoo has already. Please respond to this asap. Thanks so much...
Posted by: Deena | Apr 27, 2005 at 23:37
eu quero um avatars!
Posted by: maiara | Jun 01, 2005 at 13:18
well...i can't say muh because itz just so awsome cool , sexy and everything postitve. they r just so cute,,,n are so creative n modern...in simple words...i love it...MWAH!!
Posted by: vir | Jun 15, 2005 at 14:52
i want indian avtaars
Posted by: Archana | Jun 20, 2005 at 03:46
good
Posted by: sunny | Jun 27, 2005 at 14:40
can u plz mail me the site from where i can upload my yahoo avtar.
Posted by: siddharth | Jul 21, 2005 at 10:21
i would like to have new yahoo pool avatars when i want to play pool in yahoo
Posted by: bita | Aug 02, 2005 at 06:00
i want some new yahoo pool avatars
Posted by: dattatreya | Aug 25, 2005 at 08:13
i won't to change my style .and my picture
Posted by: [pascale | Sep 03, 2005 at 10:24