as "author surrogates" or "author avatars". Customisation Early examples of customizable avatars include multi-user systems, including MUDs. Gaia Online has a customizable avatar where users can dress it up as desired. Users may earn credits for completing sponsored surveys or certain tasks to purchase items and upgrades to customize their avatar. Linden Lab's Second Life creates a virtual world in which avatars, homes, decorations, buildings and land are for sale. Less-common items may be designed to appear better than common items, and an experienced player may be identified from a group of new characters before in-game statistics are seen. Generators To meet the demand for millions of unique, customised avatars, generator tools and services have been created. Many of them, such as the website Picrew, are based around works by original artists. The 2021 Electronic Entertainment Expo featured an avatar creator, to align with its new all-digital nature. Awareness avatars "Awareness avatars" have been used to creating rapid awareness in social media through avatar modification or a single icon's use. The awareness avatar may have first been used in the New Zealand Internet Blackout, to protest copyright law changes in New Zealand. Globally, protesters replaced their icons with black squares to show solidarity. The protest was successful and proved the method effective at both raising awareness and effecting change. Campaigns have used this method include: Black avatar: February 16–23, 2009 New Zealand Internet Blackout protesting copyright law changes in New Zealand. Yellow tint: Beginning June 17, 2009, to protest the increasing size and role of the United States government. Green tint: Beginning June 18, 2009 support for Iran election protests. French flag tint: Beginning November 13, 2015 to show support for France after the November 2015 Paris attacks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, users added surgical masks and respirators on the faces of characters and avatars. Websites such as Facebook officially supported these efforts by adding the option for several frames supporting the COVID-19 vaccine. Conversely, anti-vaccine advocates have used profile frames to state their opposition to it. Rainbow patterns to represent membership or solidarity with the LGBT community. Academic study Avatars have become an area of study in the world of academics. According to psychiatrist David Brunski, the emergence of online avatars have implications for domains of scholarly research such as technoself studies, which is concerned with all aspects of identity in a technological society. Across the literature, scholars have