头像高级感小众外国（网络头像的审美标准）
头像高级感小众外国（网络头像的审美标准）The incident began when an in-game fashion brand allegedly sent out offensive fat-shaming messages on a group channel. The label then embarked on a bizarre crusade against plus-size women. At its virtual store which sold digital clothing aimed at thin avatars the brand erected a "no fat chicks" sign alongside an image of a model wearing a crop top marked "no fat."该事件始于一个游戏中的时尚品牌在
――虚拟身体羞辱：为什么元宇宙不会修复我们现实生活中的审美标准
Virtual body-shaming: Why the metaverse won't fix our IRL beauty standards
来自在线平台“第二人生”的头像。Top image caption: Avatars from the online platform Second Life.
网络头像并不是什么新鲜事，我们关心自己在网络上的样子也不是什么新鲜事。
Avatars are nothing new — and nor is the idea that we care about how we look online.
随着沉浸式虚拟世界或“元宇宙”的推动步伐加快，得益于Fortnite和Roblox等游戏，个性化的数字头像变得更加普遍。但在在线平台“第二人生”上，近二十年来，用户已经能够创建和定制自己的数字外观。正是在这里，在2017年，一起对身体进行审美羞辱的丑闻暴露了一个令人不安的事实：我们现实生活中的美的标准将不可避免地跟随我们进入元宇宙。
As the drive towards immersive virtual worlds or "metaverses " gathers pace personalized digital Avatars have become more pervasive thanks to games like Fortnite and Roblox. But on the online platform Second Life users have been able to create and customize their own digital appearances for almost two decades. And it was here that in 2017 a body-shaming scandal laid bare an uncomfortable truth: Our real-life beauty standards will invariably follow us into the metaverse.
该事件始于一个游戏中的时尚品牌在一个群频道上发送了令人反感的羞辱肥胖的信息。然后，该品牌开始了一场讨伐大码女性的怪异的运动。在其虚拟商店中，只出售瘦身的数字服装。在店中该品牌竖起了一个“没有胖小鸡”的标志，旁边是一个模特穿着标有“无脂肪”的露脐上衣的图像。
The incident began when an in-game fashion brand allegedly sent out offensive fat-shaming messages on a group channel. The label then embarked on a bizarre crusade against plus-size women. At its virtual store which sold digital clothing aimed at thin avatars the brand erected a "no fat chicks" sign alongside an image of a model wearing a crop top marked "no fat."
“第二人生”的头像出现在虚拟服装店抗议。图片来源：瓦格纳·詹姆斯·欧/新世界笔记
Second Life avatars showed up to protest at the virtual clothing store. Credit: Wagner James Au/New World Notes
“第二人生”社区的辩论接踵而至，身材更丰满的人物头像开始来到商店抗议。一些挥舞着定制的标语牌（“我爱你瘦，我爱你胖，”一个写道，“多样性就是这一切！”），同时举行静坐抗议。
Debate in the Second Life community ensued and fuller-figured avatars began arriving at the store in protest. Some brandished customized placards ("I love you skinny I love you fat " read one "diversity is all of that!") while staging a sit-in demonstration.
正如作家和第二人生长期用户瓦格纳·詹姆斯·欧（Wagner James Au）当时在他的博客上指出的那样，人流量的提高可能使商店在平台上知名度提高而使问题恶化。这家虚拟服装店的老板当然也意识到了这点，所以他们制作了另一个标志来感谢抗议者“（谢谢你们）推广我的品牌，我的商店和我的产品......还免费”。
As writer and longtime Second Life user Wagner James Au noted on his blog at the time the foot traffic may have worsened matters by boosting the store's visibility on the platform. The offending label's owner certainly thought so. Another sign appeared thanking protesters for "promoting my brand my store and my products... for free."
像大多数在线爆发一样，争议在几天内就平息了。但根据Au将在明年出版的《为什么元宇宙很重要》一书中的说法，关于“第二人生”可定制的头像的持续辩论揭示了某些用户中令人不安的暗流。
Like most online flare-ups the controversy died down within a few days. But according to Au whose book "Why the Metaverse Matters" publishes next year ongoing debates about Second Life's customizable avatar shapes revealed a troubling undercurrent among certain users.
“人们说，'你可以成为任何东西，你可以像你期望的一样美丽 - 或者说以你可以负担得起的那样美丽 - 那你为什么选择成为肥胖者呢？'”他在加利福尼亚的一次视频采访中回忆道。“他们生气了。”
"People were saying 'You can be anything you can be as beautiful as you want — or can afford — to be so why are you choosing to be fat?'" he recalled in a video interview from California. "They got angry."
头像的标准正在改变
Shifting standards for avatars
事情并不总是这样。事实上，在《第二人生》的早期，许多用户甚至看起来都不是人类，因此很难根据现实生活中的标准来判断他们。
Things hadn't always been this way. In fact during the early years of Second Life many users didn't even look human making it difficult to judge them against real-life standards.
“网络头像类型曾经更加多样化，”Au说。“你很可能会找到一个仙女，或者看起来像一个拟人化的动物或机器人的人 - 或者其他一些各种身份的奇妙组合 - 而不是你所谓的'模拟人生'头像，看起来像一个非常有吸引力的20多岁的人。
"Avatar types used to be much more diverse " said Au. "You were just as likely to find someone who was a fairy or looked like an anthropomorphic animal or a robot — or some other fantastic combination of various identities — rather than what you might call a 'Sims' avatar that looks like a very attractive person in their 20s."
这种转变部分是技术性的。2011年，随着图形和处理能力的提高，“第二人生”允许用户创建可以上传到平台的3D皮肤或“网格”。因此，头像的出现变得越来越逼真。一方面，这为用户提供了更多的自由来创建反映他们真实样子的角色 - 包括那些喜欢看起来更有曲线或更胖的人物。另一方面，它标志着Au所谓的“潘多拉盒子”开启的时刻。
The shift was partly technological. In 2011 amid improving graphics and processing power Second Life allowed users to create 3D skins or "meshes " that could be uploaded to the platform. As a result avatars' appearances became increasingly realistic. On the one hand this gave users more freedom to create characters that reflected what they really looked like — including those who preferred to appear curvier or heavier-set. On the other it marked what Au called a "Pandora's box" moment.
“它改变了围绕头像的文化和经济，”他说。“在那之前，对头像类型的多样性肯定有更多的容忍度......但是，重视高度逼真的美丽的头像，放大了我们从现实世界带到虚拟世界的现有偏见。
"It shifted both the culture and the economy around avatars " he said. "Up until then there was definitely much more tolerance for diversity of avatar types... But putting a premium on highly realistic beautiful avatars amplified existing prejudices that we took from the real world into the virtual world."
对于那些头像尺寸“超出常规”的用户，骚扰事件仍然“一直发生”，Au补充说。“任何拥有大码头像的人都会得到一些令人讨厌的评论。
For those users whose avatars fall "outside the norm " incidents of harassment still happen "all the time " Au added. "Anyone with a large avatar is going to get at least a few nasty comments."
如果元宇宙代表了互联网的下一个阶段，那么像“第二人生”这样的平台——通常被称为第一个元宇宙——为我们的数字未来提供了经验教训。首先，新平台必须决定头像的逼真程度，以及用户在改变其外观方面有多少自由。
If metaverses represent the internet's next evolution then platforms like Second Life — often dubbed the first metaverse — offer lessons for our digital future. For one new platforms must decide how realistic avatars can be and how much freedom users are given to alter their appearances.
根据《时尚商业》2021年的一项研究，从X代到Z世代，大约70%的美国消费者认为他们的数字身份是“重要的”。但是，通过使人们能够准确地重新塑造自己的数字形象，如果用户的外表不符合现行的审美标准，平台可能会为现实生活中发生的欺凌，骚扰甚至种族主义敞开大门。
Around 70% of US consumers from generations X to Z consider their digital identity to be "important" according to a 2021 study by The Business of Fashion. But by empowering people to accurately recreate themselves platforms may open the door to the bullying harassment and even racism that unfolds in real life if users' appearances don't conform with prevailing beauty standards.
相反，在Roblox上，头像具有明显的乐高样外貌和高度简化的面孔，而Fortnite（堡垒之夜）的头像通常采用双足动物或机器人的形式。Decentraland（去中心化）的头像看起来更像是传统的人类。虽然马克·扎克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）的Meta（元宇宙）尚未公布其完整的元宇宙愿景，但该公司似乎也选择了相对现实的数字形象。（虽然形象卡通化，但广为人知的扎克伯格头像无疑就是他本人。）
On Roblox conversely characters have a distinctly Lego-like appearance with highly simplistic faces while Fortnite avatars often take the form of bipedal animals or robots. Decentraland avatars appear far more conventionally human. And while Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has yet to unveil its full metaverse vision the firm also appears to be opting for comparatively realistic figures. (Although cartoonish the widely publicized Zuckerberg avatar is unmistakably him.)
马克·扎克伯格在虚拟的Facebook Connect活动中调整了自己的头像，该公司去年十月宣布将其更名为Meta。
马克·扎克伯格的头像
Mark Zuckerberg adjusts an avatar of himself during the virtual Facebook Connect event where the company announced its rebranding as Meta last October. Credit: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images
尽管他在《第二人生》中有过经验，但Au认为，绝大多数在线用户都希望他们的虚拟自我要么是“他们长相的理想化版本，要么是一个完全不同的角色”。
Despite his experiences on Second Life Au believes that the vast majority of online users want their virtual selves to be either "an idealized version of what they look like or a completely different persona."
Au说“这就是为什么我有点震惊于Meta正在假设你想看起来像你在现实生活中的样子。”
"That's why I'm kind of astounded that Meta is going on the assumption that you want to look like who you look like in real life " Au said.
目前在这个问题上几乎没有达成共识。我们选择如何在元宇宙中展示自己也可能取决于我们在那里会做什么。例如，与朋友社交和进行工作会议可能需要截然不同的头像。
There is currently little consensus on the matter. How we choose to present ourselves in the metaverse may also depend on what we're doing there. Socializing with friends and conducting work meetings for instance might call for significantly different avatars.
它也可能因人口统计的对象群体而异。在《ACM人机交互论文集》杂志发表的一项研究中，两位克莱姆森大学教授发现，当涉及到肤色和体型等物理特征时，当前的虚拟现实用户“倾向于与他们的离线身份一致地展示自己”。研究人员发现，对于非白人参与者来说尤其如此。
It may also vary between demographic groups. In a study published by the journal Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction two Clemson University professors found that current virtual reality users "tend to present themselves consistently with their offline identity" when it came to physical features such as skin color and body shape. But this was particularly true of the study's non-White participants the researchers found.
“对于（非白人用户）来说，呈现种族是在社交VR中创建独特自我呈现的基础，”作者写道，并补充说，就像在现实世界中一样，这些头像可能会遭受社会羞辱。
"For (non-White users) presenting ethnicity is fundamental to create unique self-presentation in social VR " the authors wrote adding that just like in the real world these avatars could be subject to social stigmas.
“抽象中的自由”
'Freedom in abstraction'
从大码秀场到无性别化妆，老旧的审美观念在当今世界正日益受到挑战。将它们从现实世界中完全根除并非易事。但是，在虚拟现实中，是否有机会回避这些审美标准呢？
From plus-size runways to genderless makeup old beauty ideals are increasingly being challenged in today's world. Eradicating them entirely from the real world is no simple task. But might there be a chance to sidestep these standards in virtual reality?
对于艺术家兼未来派美学家亚历克斯·博克斯（Alex Box）来说，元宇宙提供了一个机会，可以打破现有的美学常规，重新思考我们该如何呈现自己。
For artist and beauty futurist Alex Box the metaverse offers an opportunity to tear down existing aesthetic conventions and rethink how we present ourselves.
“人们很难想象没有身体的他们是谁，”她在英格兰科茨沃尔德地区的电话中说。“这是一套非常不同的规则和与你的身份联系起来的方式，如果你说，'你只是一个形状，或者你只是一个物体。”
"It's very hard for people to imagine who they are without a body " she said on a call from the Cotswolds region of England. "It's a very different set of rules and ways of connecting with your identity if you say 'You're just a shape or you're just an object.'
“但显然，你越走向抽象，你就越不会受到身体羞辱，不会受限于身体逻辑，界限，和从一开始就强加给我们的身材标准和自主性的一切。所以，抽象中有自由，“她说，并解释说有些人可能会选择”一种象征......他们的能量，他们认为的人格，（或者）一些他们自己延伸的东西。
"But obviously the more you go towards the abstract the less you go towards body shaming body logic boundaries and ultimately everything that's been forced upon us from the beginning of time about the rules of our bodies and autonomy. So there's freedom in abstraction " she said explaining that some people may opt for "a representation... of their energy of their believed personhood (or) something that is an extension of themselves."
在对数字头像的探索中，未来派美学家Alex Box 设计了一系列虚拟的“元面具”或“数字面部时装”。
In an exploration of digital identity beauty futurist Alex Box has designed a series of virtual "metamasks " or "digital face couture." Credit: Alex Box
目前，为用户提供的是他们所熟悉的服务。即使是拥有不寻常或俏皮的头像的平台也会在保守的（或技术上必要的）参数内运行。例如，他们通常会有脸，眼睛和手。而且，与我们不同的是，它们也总是均称的，Box指出。由于元宇宙仍处于早期阶段，这位自称头像设计师的人预测我们展现自我的方式——以及我们感知美和身份的方式——将不可避免地进行扩展。
For now users are being offered the familiar. Even platforms with unusual or playful avatars operate within conservative (or perhaps technologically necessary) parameters. They will usually have faces eyes and hands for instance. And unlike us they're always symmetrical too Box noted. With the metaverse still in its early stages the self-described identity designer predicts that the ways we can present ourselves — and thus how we perceive beauty and identity — will inevitably expand.
“拥有无限的选择使人们很难去塑造，”她说。“如果你能成为任何东西，你会选择成为什么？你会只是遵循现实生活中的套路吗？是的，一开始，我想人们会的。但之后，他们就会感到无聊。
"Having infinite choice makes it very difficult for people to build " she said. "If you can be anything what do you choose? Do you just follow the same tropes as in real life? Yes initially I think people will. But then they'll get bored."
这种实验采取何种形式还有待观察。Box承认，只要尺寸主义和排他性的审美标准在现实生活中持续存在，它们就会以某种形式存在于网上 ——特别是当人们在虚拟世界中对自己的行为不像在现实世界中那样负责的时候。（“人终究是人...会有喷子，会有惊奇，会有疑虑，会有羞辱，因为这是人们在做的事情，“她说）。
Quite what form such experimentation takes remains to be seen. And Box concedes that as long as sizeism and exclusionary beauty standards persist in real life they will exist in some form online too -- especially when people are less accountable for their actions in virtual worlds than in the real one. ("People will be people... There'll be trolls there'll be magic there'll be misgivings and there'll be shaming because it's people doing it " she said).
Box认为，避免在元宇宙的早期迭代中看到的那种头像羞辱的情况的关键在于确保那些构建虚拟世界的人 - 守门人 - 本身代表着广泛的种族，外型和尺寸。就目前而言，这似乎是一个不大可能的前景。根据美国平等就业机会委员会的数据，美国超过83%的科技高管是白人，大约80%是男性。
The key to avoiding the kind of avatar-shaming seen in earlier iterations of the metaverse Box argued lies in ensuring that those building virtual worlds — the gatekeepers — themselves represent a broad range of races shapes and sizes. For now that appears to be an unlikely prospect. According to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission more than 83% of America's tech executives are White and around 80% are male.
“软件的实际制造者越广泛，越多样化，”Box说，“你在选择中就越多样化，越接近自身的本真。”
"The wider and more diverse the actual makers of the software are " Box said "the more diverse and closer you'll get to a truth of identity in the choices that you have."
资料来源： Oscar Holland CNN，美国有线电视新闻网 翻译：Mbl
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