Task #4 – Identities in Games
Part One
I decided to choose the MMORPG World of WarCraft, this is because I feel that this game/world is little more current, compared to EverQuest and I like the concepts better that lie underneath WoW. I think that I’ve heard more about Wow compared to EverQuest and I feel that it is more popular and I think those are the reasons that compelled me to choose World of WarCraft over EverQuest II. I chose to be the “Undead” race, this is because I don’t think I would want to be one of the crazy creatures like a Orc, Troll or Gnome, but I didn’t want to be a boring plain human when I have the chance to be someone other than myself. The big monster races didn’t appeal to me because I don’t feel that these characters and races don’t have any sex appeal and aren’t attractive, and I believe that people to want to create an idealized self when creating avatars. I think that I would enjoy being this race because it would bring out a different ‘dark’ side of me that I rarely show. As for a class I think I would choose to be a priest I think that I would choose this class because it’s ironic with my race and a little bit funny to me, kind of like a demon or zombie with a heart of gold. It’s not that none of the other classes didn’t appeal to me I just really liked the idea of an undead priest. I’m not sure what I would name my character, something that’s kind of sassy, but rare name that would compliment how my character looks and acts. I would want my character to be somewhat sarcastic and ironic like her “culture” and but would still be nice and sweet like a priest. Currently I have an avatar in Second Life, through my virtual cultures class last semester. My avatar I made to look like me, I’m not sure why I created my avatar to look like me. This is possible because I was using the virtual world solely for research rather than my own entertainment. My avatar, I believe would have turned out very differently if I was actually immersed in the game, rather than just exploring and researching. I think that a characters or avatars appearance does really matter to people who are in a virtual world because, like one of the readings suggested, if a person has the opportunity to create an idealized self they are going to do it. I definitely think it would depend on what you are playing; this is because virtual worlds such as Second Life depend solely on communication and social interactions along with games like WoW and EverQuest. Where as if you were playing a game that’s mainly about game play and competition an avatar might not matter as much.
Part Two:
I think I am going to discuss the Magic Bullet/Hypodermic needle theory along with the Agenda Setting theory when it comes to my serious game research paper. The Magic Bullet or Hypodermic Needle theory states that media effects everyone in the same way and media ‘injects’ its information into everyone who listens/watches/plays and interacts with media. Some questions and points of the theory I would like to analyze is do video games, in specific serious video games include do playing serious games actually increase the awareness of the topic for every person who plays it. The second theory I would like to analyze is the Agenda Setting Theory; this theory states that the media although might not tell us what to think, but it certainly tells us what to think about. A discussion topic that will be discussed is, does digital media such as serious games have an impact on the public agenda. I would also like to compare these results with applying the Agenda Setting theory to some different console games, violent and non-violent. Another questions I would like to as is does traditional media such as news papers and television have an impact on what games are popular or vice versa. I think that these theories and discussion questions are relevant to my topic and serious game and will make for interesting research and findings within the paper.
