Are Avatars the next big thing in Sports?
Digital transformation has revolutionised the way we consume and interact with the world around us. With the flourishing of new technologies, we spend more time online, through our computers and mobile devices, on various social media and video game platforms.
As we spend more time online, we feel more connected to others and have the ability to interact with people from all over the world. However, this increased digital presence can also have an isolating effect, as we may feel disconnected from the physical world, and our relationships with others may be mediated through screens rather than in-person interactions.
One way to address this issue is to personalise our online presence, Avatars’ breeding ground. An avatar is a virtual representation of oneself, often used in online games and virtual worlds. It allows individuals to create a unique and personalised identity, reflecting their taste, style, and behaviours. From online gaming to health care or Business, we can use Avatars to solve various problems and provide new opportunities for communication, collaboration, and personal expression. In this article, we will analyse the use of avatars in the sports industry, as they may have a considerable role to play. But first, let’s start with a bit of history.
Avatar’s early stages: from Gaming to Social Media
The eponymous movie made the word Avatar popular, but the concept is way older and comes straight from gaming. In fact, “Avatar” was first a 1979 PLATO computer role-playing game. As of today, it looks more like a coding session than an actual game, but at this time, a whole concept was born. While other games followed in the 1980s, the notion of Avatar was popularised by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 cyberpunk novel “Snow Crash”.
With the rise of the Internet in the 1990s and early 2000s, we started using Avatars as profile pictures on several forums and online communities. And with the creation of Social Media, Avatars were pushed further, with Snapchat being undoubtedly the first ever Social Media to have offered Avatars on its platform when purchasing Bitstrips and Bitmojis in 2016. More recently, in 2022, Meta rolled out 3D Avatars for Instagram & WhatsApp users, and you certainly have heard about the buzz around Lensa.ai, a photo editing tool that launched its AI-generated digital self-portraits feature called ‘Magic Avatars’ in November 2022.
Though at their early stages, Avatars don't sound revolutionary anymore, with new technologies and the rise of virtual worlds, they are getting more realistic with infinite customisation possibilities (clothes, accessories, etc.). They are becoming an important component of our online presence, especially when it comes to entertainment. As sports is one of the most entertaining industries, what’s in it for the fans and sports organisations?
What do avatars bring to the sports industry?
Meet the new generations of fans where they are
Tech-savvy and born during the Digital Era, the new generations (especially the GenZ) are behaving and consuming differently. They are playing online, buying online, meeting online, and even doing sports online. It is imperative to meet these new generations of fans where they are. By enabling them to enjoy sports through video games like Roblox or Fortnite - sports organisations can maximise their chance to engage more people and create new fans worldwide. We have recently seen a lot of sports organisations jumping on these platforms to create experiences, mini-games and challenges for people to enjoy through their avatars.
Creating new revenue streams
As those virtual worlds are rising, new revenue streams are as well. More and more events (sports games, venues, concerts) will take place virtually in the coming years, thus requiring an online presence and, most of the time, an Avatar. In this context, E-Merchandising will be essential to ultra-personalize them. Clothes, tools, assets… Some organisations have already taken the lead. Back in May 2021, the NBA partnered with Epic to launch an official NBA Jersey for Fortnite Avatars. More recently, in October 2022, Liverpool FC partnered with Meta to create a digital clothing line. The main goal? Giving the possibility for fans to Customise their digital avatars in the Metaverse.
This deal isn’t isolated, as more clubs launch digital clothing for Avatars. Real Betis did it with Fancurve, while some Bundesliga clubs have worked with The Football Company, a German-based startup that enables fans to collect & trade officially licensed football & lifestyle items for their 3D Avatar.
However, there’s a hitch: those virtual assets don’t have a lot of utility in the “real” world, at least for now… Investing massively in them could be risky, as there may not be sufficient value to buy. As long as it’s free, it will work. But proven utility and value are necessary if there is any fee. Indeed, most people will be reluctant to put money into something not palpable. Therefore, audits must be made before making any investment.
Ultra Personalisation: bring fans closer to their favorite brands
Still, ultra-personalization has potential. The sense of belonging that goes with it can be linked with NFT Collectible. And it directly responds to generational and current needs: proof of ownership, self-identification, building communities…
However, some companies are already making profit in this domain, like Lensa AI. By launching AI-crafted Avatars, this app is trending on Social Media. With a free trial, a lambda user can unveil his loveliest and neatest versions with different backgrounds. As mentioned earlier, it responds to a new need: feeling unique. However, there is a darker side behind these fun and fancy avatars… we will get into that later.
Get the most out of Athletes and Super Stars
In the search for new virtual experiences, with iconic players also in the virtual world, Athletes’ Avatars are taking more importance. For example, Fortnite made Neymar, Lebron James and Chloe Kim “skins” available on the platform. In 2022, Nike created Kylian’s mini-me to take over Nike Football’s Instagram.
There is nothing new in the fact that Athletes are more and more becoming their brand. But these examples powerfully showcase their willingness to increase their online presence through avatars. By creating their digital twin, they maximise their reach and engage a younger audience. If it benefits them and the platform they are in, it is also for the sports organisations. Playing with Neymar on Fortnite is indirectly helpful for Paris Saint Germain. Nike created Lil Mbappé to reinforce its image and attractiveness to a younger audience. Working with Athletes to create Avatar activation can be a good way to strengthen relationships with fans. Also, synergies with partners and sponsors could create great content with avatars.
From Avatar to Virtual Humans
A step further
In this context, virtual humans could be considered a step further in “valorisation”. These past few years, AI and machine learning have pushed boundaries regarding new technologies and possibilities. Once fantasized as part of a distant, fictitious future, virtual humans are now popping out, even in the sports industry!
The Dallas Mavericks' guard Luka Dončić created his virtual self in October 2022 with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and MetaHumanCreator technology. For the moment, TikTok is his Avatar’s exclusive playing ground. He seeks to entertain his creator’s mainly Gen-Z followers. Being the first athlete to create his AI version, the 23-year-old Slovenian can be a trailblazer for athletes.
But what are the real stakes behind these creations?
Business-wise, a virtual athlete may be the goose that lays the golden egg. First, through partnerships: in the Dončić example, his virtual self could multiply business opportunities for him in the mid and long-term. If he proves its value by gaining momentum and credibility (beyond TikTok, of course), a brand willing to partner with Dončić would have three options. The real one, his virtual self or a hybrid combination of the two, with a variable fee. Hence, possibilities seem enormous, especially if other high-profile athletes start to follow along by creating their own.
Moreover, new types of sponsorship are also about to be launched. Jordan has outfitted Dončić’s virtual self with virtual gear for the first time ever. In the years to come,« virtual brands» exclusively dedicated to meta athletes will also emerge. This “virtual sports market” could also make space for NFT’s, and new experiences for athletes and clubs’ fanbases.
Consequently, virtual athletes are meant to be a revolution in image rights. Thanks to their double self, athletes could almost double their global gains through ads, short-form video, games, film, television, retail, OOH advertising and beyond. More importantly, clubs, leagues and Federations could also enjoy a good part of it.
However, this horizon is still smoggy: potential is considerable, but so are the risks…
Assessing risks and potential problems
Plagiarism and fake identity
First and foremost, copyrights could be a huge issue. For example, the Lensa app we mentioned earlier is built on Stable Diffusion, an open-source image generator that was originally trained on 2.3 billion captioned images… including watermarked ones, copyrighted works and a huge swath of pictures from Pinterest. Those images also include many thousands of photos pulled from Smugmug and Flickr, illustrations from DeviantArt and ArtStation and stock images from sites like Getty and Shutterstock. Not very ethical for an app that requires a paying subscription…
As “avatarisation” increases, plagiarism issues could reach a serious level. Plus, another dangerous aspect could be fake identity usage. In fact, as avatars and - by extension - virtual human technologies will improve, they will become more and more accessible.
And deepfaking is just the beginning… Avatars and virtual humans could be maliciously used by hackers, especially if its owner is famous. An athlete who owns a virtual human would then suffer of its own creation with a deteriorated image. Moreover, the virtual human behavior will completely depend on its owner’s. Someone with bad intentions could cause damage to his virtual self.
Renewing itself
Let’s not forget that avatars may not be humans, but they rely entirely on people’s perceptions. A big challenge for them is to keep people entertained and amazed. As Metaverse is progressively taking over, they will have to keep up with the flow. And it is fast. They have many reasons to harness their potential if they manage to do so. But people can grow bored if they struggle to reinvent themselves quickly enough. What if Avatars fail to pass the Social Media stage? Or if they don’t get the hoped-for impact on people? Nothing can be excluded… and it would lead to a disaster for investors and technology groups.
Negotiating between sports organisations and athletes to acquire parts of their revenues could be tense regarding virtual humans. A charter that enacts the distribution of their rights should be established upstream to avoid conflicts.
Where does it stop?
The - potentially - biggest issue resides in one of the simplest questions we could ask ourselves: where does it stop?
If the Avatar business fulfils its promises, there will be a race to the more realistic, the more popular, the more lucrative…, and the more “human”. Considering how lucrative Avatars may become, we can’t expect this industry to be reasonable. Technology and innovation are constantly improving as we’re progressively diving into the Metaverse. Avatars / virtual humans will get closer. But what if, In the long term, they become« too clever» for us and get full control of themselves? If they become so realistic that they don’t need us anymore ?
At first sight, this situation seems straight out of a science-fiction movie. But all the aforementioned examples make this concern definitely real for the decades to come. Keeping control of Avatars and virtual humans could become a stake as big as their development.