The next generation of web technologies – blockchain, smart contracts, artificial intelligence, collectively known as Web3 – empower people to connect with each other directly without having to become a customer of any company. This will be primarily experienced in virtual worlds, also called metaverses. For next-generation interactions in a metaverse to be popular and effective, people must be able to establish an emotional connection with each other – and with their own digital self. This is accomplished through an avatar: a digital representation of oneself in a virtual world. Why is this emotional connection important? Is the ideal avatar a representation of one’s actual image or an act