avatar

[in Hindu mythology, the incarnation of a god]

Among people working on virtual reality and {cyberspace} interfaces, an avatar is an icon or representation of a user in a shared virtual reality. The term is sometimes used on {MUD}s.
[CMU, Tektronix] {root}, {superuser}. There are quite a few Unix machines on which the name of the superuser account is `avatar' rather than `root'. This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who found the terms root and superuser unimaginative, and thought `avatar' might better impress people with the responsibility they were accepting.