China's Generation Z pursues unique personalized avatars in metaverse to express themselves

Photo shows a virtual avatar in a game. (Photo/GMW.cn)

A customized avatar can be personalized fully from head to toe based on the requirements of an individual user, including selecting between body shapes, hairstyles, skin color, and the finer details of the avatar’s face, including its nose, eyes and mouth. In this way, such virtual avatars can reflect the individual preferences and character of a given Internet user.

The cost of a customized avatar varies from anywhere between less than 20 yuan (about $3.2) to as much as thousands of yuan. Some people have even claimed that a part-time avatar developer can earn as much as 30,000 yuan per month.

What is the secret behind the growing pursuit of customized avatars among China's Generation Z then? The answer is that the country’s young people nowadays are increasingly paying greater attention to exploring themselves as individuals as they delve into the vast possibilities of the metaverse online, and hence are increasing their consumption in this virtual domain.

It is also true that a young person will behave differently online versus offline. A young person may be too shy to express themselves, for instance, declining a sales offer in real life, but once he or she enters the metaverse, they will be free from all of their constraints and dare to explore and express their individual self-identity freely with an idealized avatar.