Avatars - can they help developing personality among students in school?: Consequences of connecting the physical world with interactive 3D-worlds to hybrid experience and acting spaces to promote sophisticated social behavior

Are you wearing clothes from Nike, H&M or Esprit? Tongue, eyebrow or bellybutton piercing? Tattoos on the upper arm, shoulder or lower back? Image is so important, and not only nowadays. Identity has always used the body as its primary source of reference. Today, there are possibilities available to each individual through MUDs (multiuser dungeons or multiuser dimensions) with their avatars in 3D Internet simulations to create their identity. The individual personality is not only staged though outward appearances (e.g. clothes), material goods (e.g. cell phones, furniture, cars), and social behaviour, but also their presence and activities within virtual spaces. Generally, the environment of MUDs are dubious, from a ethical or moral point of view, for developing personality since there is no bridge existing between physical body and identity. Still, it is possible for avatars to play a positive role in developing individual personality and social behaviour if a bridge is built within the self-designed hybrid (virtual and physical) experience and activity space. This theory is supported by the result of the ArtDeCom project, which combines theory and practice of integrated arts, design, and computer science in education.