Belief Systems & Avatars
While I have discussed the possible positive elements of the rhetoric of avatars, it is important to note that these avatars are often compromised by other users or the producers/developers of the game (authors). Popular franchises like World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, and Final Fantasy, allow their users design the aesthetic characters of their avatar, yet the interactions of said avatar is mediated through the narrative present within the game (Evans 520). Looking at WoW (World of Warcraft), the NPCs (non-player characters), are pre-scripted to deliver certain dialogue choices depending upon the gender of your avatar. Below you will see a brief dialogue provided by one of the major NPCs in World of Warcraft:
(To a male character). Hello, friend! You’ve got a strong look to you! I bet you’re all the rage with the ladies! Join me! You and I are going to be good friends!
(To a female character): Hello, friend! You’re some kind of gorgeous, aren’t you? I bet you can’t keep the men off you! Join me! You and I are going to be good friends!
(To a male character). Hello, friend! You’ve got a strong look to you! I bet you’re all the rage with the ladies! Join me! You and I are going to be good friends!
(To a female character): Hello, friend! You’re some kind of gorgeous, aren’t you? I bet you can’t keep the men off you! Join me! You and I are going to be good friends!
Bikini Warriors! |
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While it is clear that the dialogue choices fetishize the female identity as an object of aesthetic admiration, this issue extends beyond the dialogue options and is often present in the clothing options for avatars. In Tera, a Korean-based MMORPG, female characters as they progress through the game, progressively gain new armor, this “armor” is often in the form of bikini-clad fashion that only covers the bare necessities of the character.
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The Inescapable Truth
Jeffrey H. Kunzenkoff and Linsey Rose study “Communication in multiplayer gaming: Examining player responses to gender cues” suggest that video games provide another opportunity for gender stereotypes to be reinforced, “women should be extreme physical specimens, visions of beauty, objects of men’s heterosexual fantasies, and less important than men” (543). In my initial argument, I positioned that avatars provide freedom of expressions for some and an allusion of freedom to others.
For female gamers, their expression or exploration of self through their avatar is funneled through the dominant discourse surrounding gaming culture.Female gamers who attempt to undermine or work against this paradigm are met with extreme hostility, in Braithwaite’s study of female players in online games, she found that when women spoke up to defend themselves from sexually charged language or inappropriate comments, there would be an overflow of negativity/blame attributed to the female user.
For female gamers, their expression or exploration of self through their avatar is funneled through the dominant discourse surrounding gaming culture.Female gamers who attempt to undermine or work against this paradigm are met with extreme hostility, in Braithwaite’s study of female players in online games, she found that when women spoke up to defend themselves from sexually charged language or inappropriate comments, there would be an overflow of negativity/blame attributed to the female user.
Endgame
By studying avatars, we are able to examine how these virtual self’s are both rhetorically constructed by our own inherent identities, bias, and yet also mediated by the discourse they are present (gaming culture). For male users, like myself, we are able to explore alternative identities and project an ideal or other self as long as it falls within a hetero-normative frame.
From this perspective “cyborg” self or avatar self is not only a projection, but a mediation, manifestation, and creation of our unconscious. From female gamers, this process seems more complex as the audience/community of other male players and NPCs restrict this process. This is quite similar to Jacqueline Royster’s predicament in her article as she often is concerned with her voice or agency within the sphere of academia. Female gamers and avatars must conform to certain conventions or face repercussions by the community, while male gamers are free to maintain a dominant role.
From this perspective “cyborg” self or avatar self is not only a projection, but a mediation, manifestation, and creation of our unconscious. From female gamers, this process seems more complex as the audience/community of other male players and NPCs restrict this process. This is quite similar to Jacqueline Royster’s predicament in her article as she often is concerned with her voice or agency within the sphere of academia. Female gamers and avatars must conform to certain conventions or face repercussions by the community, while male gamers are free to maintain a dominant role.
For my “expansion pack” in May, I will investigate how virtual space and relationships function rhetorically and how LGBTQ characters are often are often based upon a static stereotype or architype, thus fetishizing these identities. (Still a work in progress it will make sense after a bit more research.)