Avatars...

Why exactly do we make and love our avatars so much? Why do I call myself Donut, a junk food, and like the name so much? I personally think it's because we love the fact that we can be whoever we want without a restriction like we do in the real world. I also think many love avatars because they want to escape themselves and experience being someone else.
My avatar name comes from the parody series, Red vs Blue, from the character of the same name. I chose him because he was seen as a goofball with outrageous comment and remarks but was still accepted by everyone. I loved his name was well as him so I chose that name. My avatar name comes from a fan standpoint, like most names, but I choose to have an odd one that no one else does because I hate having numbers in my name since I don't like to be thought of as a number. Others who choose their name based on a common loved thing like a popular anime/video game are bound to be taken and then must add numbers. No one wants to add numbers in their name, because by doing so, you've lost the purpose of being orignal by just becoming another number like the real world sees you as.
Some who have avatar names like the one above and have the same hate I do towards numbers have mutliple Avatar names and aliases. Since I'm in that group, whenever one of my personal avatar names is taken(very rare), I will go to one of four others I have been known as, not ones I thought up because they were cool, but because they are dear to me or explain my personally to me. Such as another name I go by is Thron, which you would think "that's not even a real word, what could it mean about you?" It was a name from my Warrior from World of Warcraft, Thronhorn wom I spelled his name wrong and didn't notice my mistake till 40-50's and by that time I grew to like the name, with friends even using it over my real name, because it had become a part of me and sentimental value grew on it.
But to some people, avatars are not just names of people they like or has meaning to them, but a curtain they hide behind for fear of people finding out who they are, as well as talk bad about someone who they don't want figuring them out. This is common on fourms and borads such as GameFaqs.