Avatar Choice

I think that avatar choice and customization has a lot to do with the game that your playing. I find it to be similar to everyday life in the fact the most people want to be considered "normal," which is very subjective because what is normal really? Anyways, I think that fitting in can be just as important in a virtual world as it is in the here and now. I think that being able to customize an avatar allows people creative freedom to be whatever character they would like to be, but at the same time these characters fit within a world. For example you would most likely not see sonic the hedgehog rolling into the mario bros world. So therefore there is some sort of limit as you have to pick a character within a subset. I think that in general people like choices and like the control of choosing different aspects of there characters. It helps to connect with ones virtual self. I think that it gives more interaction than if every character was just a standard unchangeable version. I think its a great feature, but i don't think that if a person truely enjoyed a game it would deter them if they were not able to customize there character.

Avatar Choice

I do believe that Avatars represent our ideal selves, not our actual self. Since we are participating in virtual reality, many people choose a person that they would WANT to be, not what they actually are. This can be noted in other online sites, such as social networking and dating sites- people represent themselves in a much better light than they actually might be in reality. I am not implying that there is no truth in a person's online identity.....but I find that for the most part, people choose "roles" and personas online which do not reflect their actual self and character.

avatar choice

I think when people create their avatar on games, it does reflect who they are. Most people pick something that represents them selves. You pick something that appeals to you. When I created my avatar on World of Warcraft, I picked something I liked. I made it the way I wanted it to look, which is "cute". I believe when people go to create their avatar even if they just randomly pick something some how they picked it for a reason, and it shows some part of them.

Avatar Selection

It seems to me that what you look like both in reality and in virtual reality have the same consequences. So therefore the choices you make for your avatar's appearance are very important. You need to display that you are strong and confident so it would seem that we would make our avatar tall and good looking, because that is what society has us believe, someone short and homely has no credibility. I seen a program were they had around eight men all very good looking but very short, in a room and women were brought in to meet them and see if they were compatible. Not one women would give them the time of day,even after hearing they were millionaires and very successful doctors.That open my eyes to the truth of how we view one another.

What the Avatar Represents

The claim to a more attractive personal appearance than one may truly have is a common theme in the online social interaction scene, so much so that it has actually become a cliche. It only makes sense, then, that when it is not only accepted , but encouraged to actually create a character to represent oneself with an almost infinite amount of physical traits to choose from, that a person would choose to create the avatar with all of the attributes they may wish they had.

Many people who decide to use the social interaction provided through gaming as their primary source of human contact are often unhappy with some aspect of their life, so it is only natural that when escaping to their world online they endow themselves with all of the traits they admire. This also explains why the more attractive avatars are treated better by the other players. The players have all placed value in certain traits such as height and beauty, so they not only desire to posses these characteristics, they also admire these things in others.

Part of the unique experience of gaming online is the freedom of all restraints from one's reality and the the entry into a new limitless reality available at the click of a mouse, complete with new friends. These exciting new worlds, however, are still ultimately populated by the human beings behind the screens, and many social issues that occur in society also occur in online societies. Thus, it is not so surprising that these online societies often put great power in physical appearance, just as we do in our own society offline.

Avatar

I think this is a rather interesting question i think when it comes to an individuals avatar it has alot to do with their self esteem and interests. From what i saw on world or warcraft the first ten minutes i was on there i think that when it comes to avatars on mmo's i think that peoples avatars reflect the person that they are with the cross with what they think relates best with the game. As i saw when i was on there normal bodies with a different head and vice versa. I do think that an individuals self esteem can have an effect on what their avatar looks like, however im sure it will in some cases but i think that this is more for people who are more interested in socialising Etc.

Ethics, Gaming and Altruism

In your reading for today, Noah Barron discussed the ethics of online communities seen through his eyes with the help of a USC researcher. The USC researcher seems rather pessimistic regarding online games such as WOW as teaching tools when he states, "Games can't necessarily work as teaching tools, but they can teach ethics and civic engagement," We'll see that he is wrong on his first point tomorrow. While he downplays games as educational resources he does state they are useful for teaching "ethics and civic engagement".

I would definitely agree with the second part of the researchers findings regarding ethics and disagree with the first. My response comes from ten years of experience as an educator, and a lifetime of gaming. While not terribly well written, the article highlights the issue of creating ethical communities in a virtual world where we must leave out bodies behind. This creates the opportunity for some interesting comparisons. Consider the game developers and in game monitors (GMs)as a policing agency capable of enforcing egregious transgressions. Then consider how people behave in light of the knowledge that actions have consequences.

Later in the article, the author of the article, not the researcher, contradicts the research findings by stating "In the end though, none of these attributes amount to altruism or actual ethics, which are the ingredients to real social world-building."
What is real social world building though? What constitutes ethical behavior? I'm not sure the author was wise to contradict the research on this one. Take a look at this brief definition of Ethics from Santa Clara University and compare it to the guild web page i had you review for homework. If you read closely you will see a lot of similarities pop up.

Blizzard Entertainment, the parent company of WOW, does have rules and regulations regarding behavior which can be punishable by banishment from the game but many of these rules and regulations go far beyond that.

In addition, online worlds are actually full of people who regularly commit acts of random kindness. As a player of WOW I've received help from players of the opposing faction when i was overwhelmed with enemies, I've had people give me money and items they no longer needed or didn't want, and often higher level folks will donate time to run lower level folks through tough dungeons. The perpetrators of these acts have no remuneration other than the satisfaction of knowing they have done the right thing. How often during the day do strangers give you money or help you out when you are down? I know the argument is that these things are not "real", but the time invested in acquiring them is, and so is the time they invest is helping strangers. To me, that is ethical and altruistic because time is how we measure the span of our lives on Earth. Minutes and hours of our lives are more precious than dollars because we can't ever make more.

For Wed: This article on Games as learning tools

Also look at this site which a is a resource for teachers. Take a moment and look at some of the lesson plans. Many of them are quite impressive.

avatar

I think that what a person chooses to represent themselves with speaks volumes about them! A person with low self esteem might try and compensate for it by creating an unrealistic version of themselves. This is something that they can control and is a way that they seek positive reenforcement. I did find it interesting in the article that the mixed attributes were not desirable in the least. A short, attractive avatar was veiwed worse than a non attractive avatar! I guess in the gaming world if you can have it then go all the way!