[quote=@Aeonumbra]
[@Didgeridont] Can NET avatars fight? Additionally, can they have say .. an item (like a weapon?) as a virtual representation of an executable program? Like a shield(?) could represent a firewall or something, freeing the user form the need to actually open up an interface(?) or command window to run the program.
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When uplinking to the Net, you create a direct connection with your brain, which then allows you to interface with the digital world. This allows things to progress much faster than they would with an older, corporeal interface, because your view of the Net "piggybacks" on the synapses in your brain in the sense that your brain is able to keep pace down to the millisecond because of the fact that it is essentially augmented by the hardware of your Net interface. This also means that there isn't much need for an interface in which you have to "manually" input anything to do what you want to do: you just think about it and it happens, again because of how the interface is "linked" to the neurons of the brain.

As for actually running in the Net? Your string of code in the Net can definitely have an avatar, although this very much depends on the UI of where you are. Places like virtual chatrooms or online movie theaters or online games would have Net avatars, however the necessity of these avatars rather dissipates when you get into trying to access data fortresses, as these areas aren't necessarily meant for interaction with users (and, often, aren't meant for many users to even access). In that sense, any area in which you would need to use programs doesn't really require any sort of representation of your character/your software. Cyber combat would most likely just be between two "blobs" of code within a virtual setting, where a given cubic area equals a certain amount of data. Programs and firewalls wouldn't really need abstractions such as shields or weapons, but they would just cover a certain amount of area proportionate to their data (you can get creative with this in what programs your character brings with them, such as making zip-bombs that cover a given area with solid mass of data, but know that you would likely have a limit with how much data you can store, which would depend on the nature of your hardware).