While recently playing World of Warcraft I came across the following situation.
Player A and player B decide to create new characters. Player A wants to have engineering as a profession, because that will allow the player to “build cool stuff”; player A decides to be a gnome in order to have better engineering abilities. Player B decides then to be dwarf, for variety’s sake. Players create their characters and start playing.
After an hour or so of playing with these new characters, player A declares “We are short and fat, I don’t like it”. Player B suggests, “Well, we can create new, human characters. We would be taller and slimmer then.” Player A agrees, and new (human) characters are created. Player A still sticks to the “will become engineer” plan. Upon seeing player B’s new avatar, player A remarks “Oh, it looks just like you in the Real World (TM)!”, which is fairly accurate, except that A doesn’t usually carry a mace around in the Real World (TM).
I think this story is a nice example of the importance we attach not only to the image we have of ourselves, but also to any kind of representation of ourselves. We don’t want to appear short and fat, even if it is inside a game. And we are surprisingly attached to whatever we consider to be our “core” characteristics (e.g. “I am an engineer”), too.
3 comments ↓
I really like this post. I think in real life most of people want to be different than what they have become. I reckon that its based on the fact that we don’t actually know how to be happy. In the deepest part of my heart I believe that, only by accepting the fact that, who we are now, is just an small part of something really enormous and trascendent, we can be really happy.
Nevertheless, I guess its easier to complain than to be happy with what we have, isn’t it?
“Pesimist complains about the wind,
Optimist hopes it’ll change,
Realist fits (moves) the sail”
It’s easy (more to say than to put in practise): try to make the best with your habilities, try to get maximun profit, and don’t lose time with complains.
But, as Fer said: it’s easier to complain!
I also thought this was an odd story. Since, from what I have been told, most people like to become someone else when they have the luxury of re-inventing themselves through a virtual, online persona. Fer might have hit it pretty accurately. Perhaps Player A does not feel the need to re-invent his/herself online since he/she has a) experience of re-inventing themself in the Real World TM or b) is completely attached to the self-identity arrived at after many (many) years in the Real World TM.
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