As people spend more and more time in virtual environments, the presence and disappearance of avatars as identity symbols in these worlds become more critical. Avatars are an essential link between physical humans and virtual environments, both as subjects of our experiences in virtual worlds and as objects of our creative activity. Digital death raises questions to people about how to confront their relationship with their incarnations. The death of an avatar and its impact on the host deserves attention. This study will use a qualitative approach to provide rich, in-depth data from a post-phenomenological and post-human perspective on people's experiences and perspectives on dealing with digital incarnation in a virtual reality environment. Artistic practice is the primary method employed in this study, with the researcher conducting artistic practices on the theme of digital death and virtual mourning on open-source VR social platforms and interviewing participants to reflect on their experiences and interactions to understand the emotions, feelings, and experiences associated with the digital death of the incarnation, and how they are perceived and processed by the human host. The data collected through these methods can also be used to generate insights into the meaning and significance of the digital death of an incarnation. Thus, this research aims to contribute to the future academic contribution to the field of digital identity and virtual art by exploring the issue of the digital death of avatars in virtual reality and helping to understand the relationship between humans and avatars.

Authors:
Mengxi Fu, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Mengxi Fu is a University Doctoral Student at University of Wales Trinity Saint David in United Kingdom

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