Summary Response to: PLAYING WITH OUR SELVES
Multiplicity and identity in online gaming
Jennifer Jenson, Nicholas Taylor, Suzanne de Castell and
Barry Dilouya
https://www-tandfonline-com.ezhost.utrgv.edu/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2015.1006652
-This can be found on the UTRGV library data base if they link does not take you there directly. Once on the UTRGV main page, select ACADEMIC and then Library. Copy and past the title to the search bar. (Pages 860-864)
Summary:
Within this article authors Jennifer Jenson, Nicholas Taylor, Suzanne de Castell and Barry Dilouya discuss the relationship between the Avatar and the player in Massively MultiPlayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG's) in connection with the players own likeness. As the article begins, the authors note that the internet has often been seen as a place where people can start fresh without their real life social roles hindering their online persona. They also establish how people of different communities have used the internet as a vehicle for social movements and representation. The main focus on of this argument connects to the usages of avatars from different genders. The authors point out that in games like WoW (World of Warcraft) the player has access to different gender avatars and, although they may not physically look like their avatars, the players have created them to represent an idealized self. Meaning, that the avatar is giving aspects, features or trades that the user wished they possessed.
This also lead them to the realization that many games selected different gendered avatars for themselves. Intrigued, they dug deeper in attempts to understand the preference in opposite gender avatars and its connection to the player. They conducted many surveys in search of the reason behind "gender-swapping" or Sex-Swapping with their multiple avatars. The responses were, from both men an women players, completely opposite. Not noticing the gender boundaries they were portraying the common male response was in hopes to get assistance from other male avatars within the games and also giving things like loot. The women players, on the other hand, selected male avatars in hopes for being treated fairly and not being hit on. Later, when they conducted a data base test that allowed the players computer to be monitored for a duration of five months, they found that it was more common for males to sex-swap than females, and when they when doing so, the characteristic was that of a healer or helper. However, women were very private about their male characters, afraid that they would be harassed is found out and would only "come out" if they truly knew their teammates.
Ultimately, the researches found that, within a MMORPG, the player does not take on full representation of their avatar in that of sex-swapping, but selects the avatar based on need and task. Leading them to believe that the relationship between the player and avatar in a MMORPG vs. a single avatar RPG, differ. Within the MMORPG, the player is more aware that they are not the avatar because they have so many and play different genders. Where as, in the RPG, with a single created avatar, the player feels more connected because they have created this character, somewhat in their likeness, and continuously play with that one avatar.
Response:
In this case, with the given evidence, I can agree with the outcome. I have a friend who plays online games, of course I am nearly a spectator, but he always picks the female avatars. When I asked him about it, he mentioned that he likes to play the "helpless, slutty character" because it gives him an advantage. The other players would always underestimate the half naked avatar and give it treasures as well but it would also get attacked by the large male avatars; not knowing that the helpless looking slut bunny was in fact, very strong. Ergo, leading my friend to get points, free stuff, and build his armor for killing the underdeveloped, over masculine avatar. This article actually clears up my understand of his sex-swap. He did have many other avatars but he favored this particular one and with good reason. Looking back at it now, it also shows how male avatars (represented by either male or female players) react to thin, slutty, female avatars: helpful, flirtatious or violent. This behavior also reflects a lot of crimes done to women in the real world and how the patriarchal society/male mind have condoned this sort of behavior toward women.
Quotations:
"As Kitchin aptly put it: 'The physical world . . . is a place where identity and position of
the people you communicate with are well known, fixed, and highly visual. In cyberspace,
everybody is in the dark'." (861)
"The majority of participants in this study (68 percent) indicated that they did not
make their avatar look like them, but that (according to their responses to a multiple-choice
question) most wanted an avatar that was a kind of idealized self." (863)
"Reasons given by female players for sex-swapping included not wanting to be 'hit on' and an interest in identity play, and for males playing as females, some indicated that they 'got more stuff'
while others were also just interested in playing with an opposite-sexed character." (863)
while others were also just interested in playing with an opposite-sexed character." (863)
Rachel,
ReplyDelete"As Kitchin aptly put it: 'The physical world . . . is a place where identity and position of the people you communicate with are well known, fixed, and highly visual. In cyberspace, everybody is in the dark'." (861)--- This makes me really consider the way digital identity is different from real world identity. It seems as if the cyber-world offers a unique way to explore the roles you take in life. In the article I wrote about a few days ago (“Gendering the Internet: Claims, Controversies and Cultures”, the author also explores the gender-bending aspect of cyberspace; she argues that this freedom is unique to cyberspace and I really think she would have agree with this article.
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DeleteI thought it was interesting how your friend used stereotypes to his advantage. It's impressive but also frustrating. Impressive because it is something, I am sure, not many think of doing. Tricking their opponents into thinking they are unskilled players by choosing a female avatar. However, as a woman, this is frustrating. In my experience playing video games (which is not a lot), the female characters are ALWAYS slutty and have a lot of skin showing. It's shows a lot about our society. Thinking of superheroes, even. Women superheroes have costumes that are all revealing, tight leather, and with their hair down. This is super impractical. But we are trying to appeal to a male audience who wants to see women like that. So our perceptions of strong females are distorted into these avatars that look slutty.
ReplyDeleteSo, the next question is how much our digital identity matches our "real" identity. For instance, men assuming a female facade reveals an identity of manipulation. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn rhetoric we use the word "ethos" quite a bit to refer to how we project identity to others. Rhetoric can refer to age, gender, and other obvious markers, or to variables that we can use, either consciously or unconsciously, to portray a certain identity. We all dress up for a job interview or a first date, right? We are, like the men described here, using perceived identity as a means to manipulate, which suggests that digital identity may be more manipulative than virtual identity.