Talk:Bingjie Qiu

It is clear that Bingjie had spent a lot of time reflecting on her appearance and why she chose to change certain features of herself, such as her hair and eyes. Because of this, it is no surprise that she was able to map these features onto an avatar representation of herself, and it was interesting to hear how she felt certain features could render her avatar more or less attractive. While it is simplistic to say that feeling more attractive can make a person perhaps feel better about themself, this reflection went further in describing the connections between change in physical appearance and a corresponding change in personality. This reflection is insightful and shows how the final thought about avatars being manifestations of our desires comes directly from her experiences with this assignment.

The Times Magazine article that Bingjie used is very relevant, not only to the topic of avatars, but also to her personal experiences with manipulating appearances, both on- and off-line. Although there was room for expansion on this outside source, anyone who would take the time to go through and read the article would see that it says a lot about how online avatar appearances can affect offline identity, which is the point that Bingjie ends on.

Danielle Lott

Bingjie describes in depth her feelings towards her physical characteristics and how they translate into her personal avatar. After reading her essay I had a good sense of who she was and her physical appearance, butI would recommend a little more focus on her experience using the evolver software and and how she was able or unable to translate her physical characteristics into her personal avatar. The strength of her reflection lies in her explanation of her physical traits but I would like to know more about how she was successful or struggled using the tools available on evolver. com to create her personal avatar.

Another strength of the reflection came when she connected her fantasy avatar experience to the TV series .hack//SIGN. I enjoyed the her explanation of how an avatar and online interaction can fill real voids in life, in this example she describes how a paraplegic is able to move freely in an online setting using her avatar. Bingjie uses an insightful quote from the Time article but it would have been beneficial to expand on it and show how it connects with her experience creating avatars. Overall, I feel like this reflection gave me a good sense of Bingjie's physical traits and who she is and her attempts to create an ideal version of herself through a fantasy avatar.

E Guerrero