How does digital presence reshape creative work and art? This text is a summary based on an interview with internet historian and artist John Reis. In the discussion, he explains how game worlds and avatars are evolving from mere entertainment elements into building blocks of professional identity.
Digital identity and the use of avatars are no longer limited to entertainment. They have become part of creative work, art, and cultural production. At the same time, they are transforming how people present themselves and build their presence online. This is not only about technology, but also about new ways of understanding existence in digital environments.
Avatars are no longer just profile pictures or game characters. They are tools for constructing social, temporal, and spatial experiences. Digital presence no longer adapts to the limitations of the physical world in the same way it once did. It can stretch, layer itself, and transform across different contexts.
However, understanding digital identity in creative production requires a broad perspective. Internet historian, designer, and digital artist John Reis (known online as Chaize) offers his own viewpoint on the subject. His expertise lies at the intersection of product design, sociology, and internet art. For six years, Reis has explored what digital existence means for contemporary creators, and in recent years these theoretical reflections have merged into practical experimentation within his own artistic work.
From Virtual Theme Parties to Art Concepts
Reis’s journey into using sandbox games as tools for cultural production began from a social need during pandemic lockdowns. At first, it involved virtual themed parties organized with friends, where the walls of game spaces were decorated with inside jokes. These experiments quickly expanded into graphic design and immersive concepts, such as a virtual cat exhibition where guests presented imaginary pets that defied the laws of physics. Later, the platform became a meeting place for a long-distance relationship, where Reis recreated, together with his partner, a fake terrace inspired by a photograph taken in Italy.
These intimate experiments led to an important realization: game environments attract audiences who are genuinely curious and eager to explore content presented within digital spaces. Years later, Reis’s early sandbox experiments evolved into prototypes for presenting art, eventually leading to the inclusion of his work as part of the Helsinki Festival.
Virtual Space as Part of Identity
IMAGE: Screenshot by John Reis, Tower Unite (PixelTail Games, 2016)
In Reis’s work, the virtual gallery space is not merely a backdrop, but a direct extension of the avatar and digital identity. As a tool for cultural production, the game environment enables the multiplication of the creator’s presence. Visitors entering the exhibition are greeted by a digital guide character (NPC, Non-Player Character) modeled after the artist’s own avatar. Identity and self-portraits are therefore not simply hung on walls; they come alive through the interactive elements of the environment.
Space also becomes a tool for shaping identity when physical and digital histories merge together. Reis has, for example, reconstructed his former apartment in Tampere within a game environment. This creates a disorienting illusion between two- and three-dimensionality, blurring the line between real-world history and the digital present. Game mechanics, such as teleporting through walls into hidden rooms, can become methods for choreographing how audiences experience the artist’s digital world.
Professionalism and Freedom in a Surreal Environment
One of the most fascinating questions surrounding digital presence is how to maintain professional integrity within surreal environments. How does an audience react to an artist who communicates with strong professionalism while operating through an avatar? According to Reis, the absurdity of the environment can actually become an advantage. In game worlds where everyone is already performing some kind of role, the traditional “gallery curator character” can appear surprisingly restrained.
In virtual spaces, people often ask more direct and professional questions than they would face-to-face, even when conversing with a flying game character. The digital body also enables faster fine-tuning of one’s personality and communication style. Online, there is freedom to experiment and perform in ways that are much harder in the physical world, where social codes and physical cues are considerably more rigid. In this environment, trolls and disruptive individuals can simply be muted or excluded — the digital gallerist always retains control over their own space.
John Reis’s Three Pieces of Advice for Building a Digital Identity
Drawing from years of experience designing digital spaces and identities, Reis offers three practical building blocks for creative professionals who want to develop their online presence as a professional tool:
- The power of rebranding.
When thinking about your online persona, remember that you can always rebrand yourself and change direction at any time. Do not worry about whether others notice the changes. It does not matter. - Think outside the “human box.”
Online, you can be anyone or anything. How would your understanding of yourself change if you began to think of yourself as something other than human? Does that feel good? - Play!
I believe you can present yourself as anything online and still remain professional. Personally, I draw inspiration from the furry community, which I see as one of the best examples of serious professionals fully expressing themselves through internet personas.
Sources
Reis, J. (2026). Haastattelu 13.05.2026. Haastattelija: Anna Puhakka. [Julkaisematon aineisto].
Steam. (i.a.). Tower Unite -pelin kauppasivu. Haettu 18.05.2026 osoitteesta https://store.steampowered.com/app/394690/Tower_Unite/
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