Challenging the asymmetry of online interactions between humans and avatars in an online video game space: a unique example of relative independence and autonomy

Are avatars simply a vehicle of sorts, allowing us to move about in an otherwise inaccessible digital world? The present article intends to challenge the standard conceptualization of this particular figure by offering a different vision. Through research based on interactionism and data collected from an ethnography, it is possible to go beyond the conventional, asymmetrical understanding of the avatar figure and consider it as an entity unto itself, having a certain degree of independence and autonomy