Video games and immortality:

The concept of AVATAR

(Somphul Chanhthaboutdy, in Le Post-humain et les enjeux du sujet, L'Harmattan, 2011)

Millions of people have a second life in the persistent worlds. They work, seduce, show off, deceipt, live, die, reincarnate, without ever worrying about the rules of life and death.

Many players find in these worlds a pleasure in challenging and playing with death while having the impression of being immortal.

Avatar is a 2009 American epic science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron

The figure of clone exists for a long time in the virtual world, through the avatar.

The projection of the player into a virtual alter ego allows the player to express himself freelyin these worlds. The player has the feeling of being above all the laws of nature and of being eternal. In online role-playing games (MMORPG) and shooting games (FPS) the avatar is usually immortal. The player projects himself into his avatar and has the feeling of being immortal like him.

In this case, the avatar can be considered as a virtual posthuman that has invaded the online games and the Web.