Avatar is one of those words I'm always careful to say, when using it in English, with the most American twang possible. There's no way I want someone to mix up this:

with the concept of "Incarnation of God on Earth."

Still, not bad, eh? I like the 826 Valencia (Pirate Shop!) t-shirt--something I'm willing to wear on my (virtual) back. The shout out desire is the main incentive that Meez sees behind these 3-D animated avatars that users can paste into their blogs, livejournals, and forums--and eventually hopefully use in online gaming. Hoping to build an American market to match the apparently greater than $100 Million avatar market in South Korea. Instead of getting users to invest in the elaborate infrastructure of a Second Life, Meez hopes that users will slip these avatars into their existing virtual social scene, get attached to them, and take them everywhere.

Launched in March, and still in Beta, Meez claims over 100,000 users, a solid portion of which is in the 13-18 demographic. Some users, particularly girls, return every day to redress their virtual selves, often choosing the branded "merchandise" that is Meez's bread and butter. This model makes the most sense to me in the context of casual online gaming, and when you can start keeping track of your friends' avatars in a chat environment. Then there's a real incentive to say something meaningful and keep returning to redress your characters. But maybe I'm already too old, since I don't even have a MySpace page.