What Would Matt Do

On my long ass ride into work today (woe is me!) I was listening to NPR and heard about an exhibit traveling around the world called Alter Ego. It shows pictures of the real person and their characters in various MMOs along with a description of the person and how they feel about their avatar.

It was very interesting and I’d visit the Exhibit if it comes to you, listen to the interview on NPR linked above or at the very least check out the pictures.

The whole thing got me thinking my characters in MMOs… You know how I pick characters in WoW, for instance? Whatever is cool looking, starts in the lands I like and is a dwarf. :P I love the dwarves. But in CoH? I pick hot females. Why? Because the guys are ugly, retarded looking and I’d rather stare at a fine girls butt in tights than a beefy guys butt in tights. In LOTR? I picked a dwarf, of course. In Everquest? Well, a dwarf sucked since I couldn’t be a Druid, the ultimate everyman class in EQ.

I share all of that to exercise a point. I don’t pick based on creating an alter ego for myself. I’m not looking to create another identity or expand my social skills… I just want to play a game and be good at that game. But that’s apparently not how many people play the game.

So my question becomes, how does this work for other people? Do they create characters like Becky in that NPR interview, to get some respect she doesn’t feel she gets in her ever day life? Do people go into MMOs with the idea of recreating themselves? Playing different personalities?

This leads to the other part of the NPR story.

“A sociologist at MIT, Sherry Turkle, described these environments as laboratories for the construction of identity, says Spaight. “In the virtual world you can be anything you want to be … construct a persona that is wildly different from your real world self.”

I know some jackasses out there like to create weird personalities to troll / fuck with people, but aren’t most of us just looking to play the game?

I know power gamers don’t give a shit about this sort of thing, often picking one class/race over another to get tiny stat gains. So that cuts out a big portion of MMO players. So the rest of us…are our characters saying something about us we aren’t realizing? Like maybe I’ve always wanted to be a dwarf with an ass kicking ax? Maybe I should visit SL and see if I can’t get some therapy. Some sexual therapy. :P

Of course, we all know if you see a girl a in an MMO, it’s a guy. Duh.

What Would Matt Do: I think I’m going to start LOTR up for real here soon. Maybe. Maybe I’ll just wait for Conan/Warhammer.

I’ve missed all kinds of news while I was on…hiatus? I don’t know what to call it, but it’s done now. And I didn’t really miss the news. I’ve followed the Dyack suit, the sploding 360s, broken toys (as any good stalker does) and all kinds of rumblings through out the industry. It’s actually been a pretty news worthy time I missed out on whining about. Well, don’t fear, I’m back, I like to wear black sometimes and the prisoners will not be taken! Maybe.

As for today’s entry, it’s apparently very good to be a 360 owner, if you don’t mind a bit of a break in your gaming when your 360 dies (mine hasn’t died yet, but you know, it’s considered it once or twice). Why, do you ask, is it good to be a 360 owner even if it might eat your cat at any point? Because it’s the system you’re going to want to play GTA IV on. That’s right, not only is GTA IV going to be released simultaneously on the 360 and the PS3, but 360 is the system you should own it for if, and get this quote, “you want the complete experience with the episodes”. I find much awesome in that. Why? Well, because I’m a 360 owner and don’t want to buy a PS3 while they still cost bajillions and have no must buy games as of yet.

From Games Radar:

“They’re identical games,” Simon continued. “We’re not hardware makers, and we’re not like a pawn between these companies, we try not to be as much as we can. We make great games for people to enjoy on whichever system they want.

“But I guess if you want the complete experience with the episodes, then yeah, you should buy the 360, I suppose,” Simon said.

So they are completely identical except for that part about it being the complete experience on the 360. I love it.

What Would Matt Do: Well, it’s good to be back and since it is, I’ll just say, I’m so looking forward to GTA IV and leave it that. Also, I missed my three loyal readers! Nerd hugs for everyone!