Why I'm appearing as Botgirl Questi on a live-voiced Inside the Avatar Studio

Bevan Whitfield invited me to be the guest on this month's edition of Inside the Avatar Studio. Since it's a live talk show, my first thought was to appear as usual through my fourworlds identity. The mixed gender thing works for Lauren Weyland, but it's not Botgirl's schtick. Voicing Botgirl's usual form with my human vocal cords would be as creepy and inauthentic as Joss Wheldon reading Buffy or JK Rowling performing Voldermort.

That said, wearing the fourworlds identity and avatar for special occasions feels like pulling an infrequently worn second-hand tuxedo from the back of my closet. (No pun intended.) It's stiff and doesn't quite live up to the occasion. So this time, I've decided to try something different. I'm going to appear on the show as Botgirl Questi, but show up in a visible form that is congruent with the live voice. (Anyone want to go shopping with me for an avatar body and skin?)

After years of musing on the virtual identity, it seems to me that one's name is the most essential carrier of transworld identity. As I wrote in 2010, a name is much more than a label:

In the mundane view of reality, a name is merely a word we use to label the particular entity that is specified. But the deeper truth is that a name plays a role in defining and maintaining our perception of the named object. At an even more profound level, a name actually brings the named into perceptual existence by separating a particular set of attributes from the universe into a discrete object or being.

So fuck it, right? The main downside I see is that I can't disassociate myself from all the pompous punditry that may spew from my virtual lips. Like in this 2010 clip from my last appearance on Inside the Avatar Studio for a panel discussion on Avatar the movie.