Poll Is your Avatar an extension of you, or is it a minion

Arclan

I had never considered playing a female character and always found it just a little weird even though most fem characters are males. (Although any mercenaries I hire in EQ are of course hot fems.)

Recently, someone on these forums led me to believe they see their avatar not as an extension of themself, but as an underling whom they control. Well if that were the case then sure why not have a hot fem avatar.

ElRenmazuo

Just an heroic character I control no different from me controlling Solid Snake or Lara Croft

GwapoJosh

A sexy minion with breast physics and a sweet ass

NoLifeNerd20

I become really involved with any avatars I make as my current social life is non existent I guess I sort of become the character so to speak

waynejr2

Originally posted by tkreep
Just an heroic character I control no different from me controlling Solid Snake or Lara Croft

Exactly.

DangerNobuo

My Avatar is an extension of myself. I always play male characters because I am a male in real life.

Although I am not a Troll in real life and I usually play Trolls or other monstrous races.

Krematory

Depends on how immersed I'm in the game. If the game is good enough it can be an extension, otherwise it's just a minion. I tend lo play games longer if they give me "the avatar feeling".

rojoArcueid

Originally posted by tkreep
Just an heroic character I control no different from me controlling Solid Snake or Lara Croft

this +1

 

i dont roleplay to feel the avatar as an extension of me. But if i like the Lore and story of the game, then when i play my character i like to make my character be involved in the world the same way i would be if i lived in that world (not being my own character, just being part of the world). Very very few games have made me play that way because the Lore is simply amazing. WoW, GW2, Swtor (yes, swtor has great story), Skyrim, Amalur, Suikoden, and a couple more classic single player games.

Jaedor

Neither. It's a bunch of pixels and the method available for interaction with a game.

Beatnik59

This may sound totally weird, but this is how I tend to relate to characters:

 

I said "minion/underling," but in reality, my characters are a little bit more than that to me.

 

I guess I treat my characters in the same way as Geppetto treats his toys: my characters depend on me to give them a meaningful existence, and I find purpose in giving them that meaningful existence.  It may sound weird, but I love them, in the sense that they give me joy.  But since they can't act on their own, they require me to make their decisions for them.  And it's a trust that I take seriously.

 

There are games out there that I play when I want to "be the character."  The last one I played was the Mass Effect Trillogy.  But I play MMORPGs like I played The Sims: not as a vehicle for my satisfaction as much as a way to give life to something which would have no life without me.

 

Are they "me?"  Well, there are certain aspects about them that resemble me, at times.  Mostly, however, they are works of fiction that I bring to life.  I give them personalities that are uniquely "their own."  I'm much more likely to play something that I am not than to play something that I am.

 

I always say to myself, "what would she do?" or "what would he do?" whenever I play my characters.  And I do the things that their personalities would do, if they had the ability to do things without my help.

 

I'm much more likely to consider a male character as a son than as me, per se.  I'm much more likely to see a female character as a daughter than as me, per se.  That's the kind of relationship I have with them, more or less.  Like any parent, I want them to be happy, find good friends, have good relationships and be successful at what they do.  If I don't give them these things, who will?

 

Is it wrong to play your characters that way?

jazz.be

It used to be an extension, really, I made sure it reflected what I wanted him to be.

But since I discovered I'm kind of an altoholic (or became one in the course of history) I started treating them as minions.

But I usually have one that is more like an avatar.

Loktofeit

In most MMOs I have one 'me' and one 'minion'.

craftseeker

Neither it is a character I create in a virtual world.

free2play

I see them as a cast in a movie where I am the director. I've never seen a video game character as a digital version of myself.

 

Having Heroines as the leading actors is pretty common for me. I have a Matriarchal faith system so letting 'her' be the hero isn't a difficult transition.

Jemcrystal

You forgot the opt out third vote choice "Other."  I didn't vote.  I play with familiar characters from one game to the next.  Each have a history and background.  If I write about them it reads like a Forgotten Realms novel.  FR is their world setting.  Guess it's DnD style.  I'm both the character and the character's deity interchangeably.  

Alders

It's always an extension of me, or should i say, how i want me to be.

I'm Han Solo, Jack Burton, and Buckaroo Banzai all wrapped up in one.

This is also why i prefer very deep and detailed character creators.

Arakazi

I think of it as a glove puppet. Although I control it, it's not really me. I just give it life.

maplestone

I feel like Davros.  I make these little armoured characters who go around exterminating everything in sight, but I'm not sure if they're my minions or if I'm theirs.

( that quip aside, I design my characters as an exaggeration of myself, but when I actually play them, it's as if they had lives and motivations of their own and I'm just a voice advising them ... I wouldn't have chosen "minion" to describe it, but I definitely feel the character is the hero, not me )

Zzad

Cool Question OP!!!

I think my avatar is an extension of me. Not because the are LIKE me...no...they are completely diferent to me most+times!

That´s why i play them in some reason!

But my time invested & my likes involved are surely showing somehow my design of a character.

I usually tend to do some disturbing looking characters...avoiding "handsome clichés"

but i´m pretty handsome,,,frikking hot! So i prefer to play opposite....

Does it make sense?  xD

Voted! ^^

 

KenFisher

Neither.  It is an avatar in a synthetic environment, which is reality for the character.  I, when playing it, am an actor bringing the character to life.

 

I think of it as improvisational theatre.  "a form of theater where most or all of what is performed is created at the moment it is performed"

arieste

It's neither, but it's closer to the second thing.  

 

For me, they are fictional characters.  It's like writing a story or a screenplay and deciding what a character says and does.   You are not that character, although i suppose all characters are an extension of the author in some way.

 

That's as far as in-character interaction goes.  As far as out of character, i trust that when my female Ogre tells people about the hot blond girl i took to the movies, they understand that it wasn't an ACTUAL female ogre, that it was the human male behind the keyboard.

 

 

Kyleran

Pretty much it's an extension of me in the game world, I even try to make them look a bit older and more like how I actually am today than some sort of over muscled, young warrior.

 

Arclan

How interesting. You've all shown me aspects of gaming that I hadn't even considered. /respect

On a side note, time to get me some slo-mo-but-cam action next time I reroll. If someone gets fresh, I can tell them that "my boss doesn't like when other men flirt with me." Boss, of course, being me behind the keyboard.

Cephus404

It is a tool that allows me to interact with the game, no different than a car that I control in a racing game or a flipper that I control when I'm playing pinball.  I do not extend any feelings or emotions toward that tool, it exists to facilitate my enjoyment of the game, nothing more.

dave6660

They're pixels on a monitor.  I never feel any sense of attachment to the characters I create.  That might explain why losing xp or gear in a game never bothered me as it does others. 

 

dalewj

I have played my whole life (that's a long time people) with my real name and I am easy to trace to a real person.  In this way I play who I am and what I want to be.