Robbie Cooper's book, a photographic compare and contrast between gamers and their avatars called Alter Egos, is now on pre-order through Amazon.

Alter Ego is a cool concept book, presenting the phenomenon of the contemporary avatar-the virtual characters gamers choose and design to engage in 3D worlds online. Portraits of gamers from the United States, Europe, China, and Japan (including leading figures of the gaming world) are paired with digital images of their alter egos, graphically dramatizing the gap between fantasy and reality.

For all of you who are closet Second Lifers, this might be the book for you. As well as the beautiful photographs, the book is also full of gaming terminology as well as gamer's profiles. Because it was an exhibition, some of the photos are available to look at online through the BBC News website here and here.

Note that even though these are highly-stylized photographs, they are posing in such a way that does not resemble Fall Out Boy. Kim Phu

Alter Ego Portraits [Boing Boing]