Avatar

No, this post isn’t about James Cameron’s movie. Funny enough, that’s one film I really don’t like. I saw it once, and that was already one time too many. Naturally, I haven't seen any of the sequels either, I honestly have no idea how many of them are out there at this point.

Instead, I’m talking about a different kind of avatar. I belong to the generation that grew up with MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, and AIM, back before "social media" was even a thing. It was a revolutionary time. No longer did you have to write an email and wait days for a response (though email itself had already almost completely replaced regular mail). No longer did you have to make expensive, long distance phone calls. All you needed was a messenger app, and you could be up for hours chatting with friends, family, or random people across the globe.

Then came Facebook in 2004, which initially required a college email address and only let you network with students from your own university. Ah, simpler times.

That very same year, another platform launched, IMVU. Now, people were already used to 2D chat rooms like The Palace, but they were incredibly basic with downright tragic graphics, I mean, dial-up connections were still a thing, after all. (Gosh, writing "twenty plus years ago" just made me feel ancient).

It was probably a year later, around 2005, when I stumbled across this new platform. And unlike most of the internet relics I just mentioned, I believe this one actually still exists today, besides Facebook, obviously.

If you’ve never had an IMVU account or have never even heard of it, let me tell you, it was a digital wonderland! On it, you could build your own 3D rooms and customize a fully 3D avatar. It was the ultimate way to live the digital life of your dreams. You wanted a sprawling mansion on the beach? No problem! Click a button, and it was yours. But that wasn’t even the best part, at least not for me.

The absolute best part was the avatar customization. You got to choose between a male or female character right out of the gate, and from there, you could personalize it whichever way you want it. Users could create, buy, or sell custom digital assets, bodies, heads, hairstyles, hands, clothes, shoes, accessories... if you could imagine it, someone was probably selling it.

As you can probably guess, I created my account and immediately clicked "Female." Obviously. It was the perfect, risk-free opportunity to live as myself, even if it was entirely virtual. At the time, I was already married, but coming out to my wife wasn’t even a remote thought in my mind. So, I would live my regular life, and then log onto IMVU to live my true virtual life.

I refused to spend a single cent of real money on it though. Back then, the only way to buy credits (the virtual currency) was with a credit card. There was absolutely no way I was doing that; I didn't want my wife finding out about my "IMVU" account. Fortunately, the platform gave you ways to earn free credits through mini games or just by logging in every day.

Eventually, they rolled out prepaid gift cards in stores, but even better, other players could gift you items or credits. Since I had a female avatar, and if I do say so myself, a very pretty looking one, there was always some guy trying to hook up and impress me with gifts. I started out like everyone else with a basic, generic avatar, but I channeled every single credit I earned or received into upgrading her until she looked absolutely gorgeous.

Let me be perfectly clear, I never explicitly asked for anything, and I never flirted with anyone to manipulate them into giving me gifts. I'm not like that. The platform just had a public wishlist feature, much like Amazon, you added items you liked, and people could browse your list and buy them for you, so that’s how I got my gifts.

I didn’t open the account to flirt or hook up. My sole purpose was to express and live as myself in a virtual world, and let me tell you, it felt amazing to simply be seen and treated as any other woman.

Of course, the digital world is a mixed bag. Some men were nice, but most were... well, typical internet men who only wanted one thing (disgusting, honestly). On the flip side, the women on the platform were incredibly kind and happy to make new friends, though I did stumble upon a couple of mean girls along the way. In fact, most of the gifts I received actually came from other female avatars. Who knows, maybe they were doing the exact same thing as I was, living their female life in the digital world.

I spent about two years on IMVU, and it was a genuinely awesome escape. Except for maybe a couple of awkward encounters, I didn’t have any bad or unpleasant experiences. I actually really enjoyed the duality and the balance it provided between my real life and my virtual one.

Would I recommend jumping onto IMVU? If we were back in 2005, I'd say yes without a doubt. If the platform is still up and running today, and a quick look suggests it is, it might still be worth checking out. Granted, it’s been two decades since I logged off for good, so I am completely clueless as to how much it has changed. But hey, if you're curious, give it a shot!