Sunday, February 5, 2012

MOST BADASS KID EVER!!!!

            I read “Videogames, Avatars, and Identity” as a gamer, who plays many RPGs and have many different “Identities” or “Avatars.”  So while reading I was thinking about how some people play games to escape their real life, so what better way then to start a new life in a game whether it be “Second Life” or “WoW.”  As a gamer, I have never been so hooked on a game to the point that I get addicted and start living in game more then my real life.  This being said, RPGs, or Role Playing Games, are some of my favorite type of games, especially Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, or MMORPGs.  I feel that when I play RPGs and make a character, I try to make that character look either really badass, funny, ridiculous, or look as close to me possible.  An example of the first 3 is my DC Universe Online character.  This game has you make a character who is either a superhero or super villain (which effects your story line, either good or evil), and you get to pick their powers and design their costume, to potentially make them look like anything, from a person who's just running around in their underwear or someone fully decked out in a futuristic mech suit.  You can customize body types such as tall, short, or average, weight such as heavy, skinny, or average, you can choose male or female,  you can choose different types or skin like, but not limited to fur, lava, metal, zombie, or normal flesh, you can choose different facial structures and age, customize hair and you can change the color of anything, I just listed. Obviously I picked villain because life is more fun when you don’t constantly have to be saving people, and I designed my character to be a perfect trifecta of badass, funny, and ridiculous.  He looks like a classic 90s looking kid, who looks to be about 10 years old, decked out with a red T-shirt, blue jean shorts, high white socks, sneakers, and of course a tiny back pack.  This makes him funny because people in the game often make adult looking characters, and don’t very often see a kid running around.  The fact that he is a villain makes him ridiculous, but on top of that he’s badass because he uses 2 hand guns as his weapons.  His name is Kid Pistol, which is a shame because after naming him that I realized Young Gun would’ve suited him just as well.  Kid Pistol is the perfect character in my mind because he is the trifecta of badass, funny, and ridiculous, and some might even say ironic.  I love running around the game world and people saying “WTF?!?! A kid?!?!” then getting their mind blown (figuratively, and also sometimes literally) when I pull out my duel hand cannons.  I feel in DC Universe Online, avatars are really just used to add to your experience in the game being able to put a face to a name, but also to help your interactions with people online, which Kid Pistol defiantly does.  In other games such as Skyrim, or Fallout 3 the character designs aren’t as important because you’re really the only one who sees it since these games aren’t online.  Don’t get me wrong though, I still enjoy the freak out of making my characters look badass, but it seems there isn’t much a purpose past the character customization menu.  Once you make your character, the only time you actually see it is when interacting with something in the world, or when you look at your character.  Also most the time within the first hour of game play you already find armor that just ends up covering up your character anyways.  One of the only reasons I could think of for the game makers to have you make your own character is so you feel more attached to it.  Maybe its because you took the time to make them just like you wanted, so you don't want to see it die.  When I'm playing I don't think that way, but I can see some people thinking like that.

1 comment:

  1. I like the story quality of this post. Could you elaborate more on customizing? What do you mean when you say there is much of a purpose to it?

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