Identity Character Creation

This week I will be focusing on how Character Creation enables identity projection in role playing games.

There are plenty of types of Role playing games out there, examples of these are table-top RPG, live action RPG, text-based RPGs and the list goes on. However, for the focus of my study I will be focusing on RPG video games. The sub-genres I will study are linear RPG, open world RPG and massively multiplayer RPG (MMORPG).

One feature that is present throughout most RPGs, with the exception to more story based (linear) RPGs, contain character customization. Generally beginning at the start of a game, is a tool that offers you the option to personalize your avatar to your every need. Usually, you are given the freedom to change their physical appearance such as their age, sex, hair, and ethnicity.

When player's are given the opportunity to customize their character they most often than not create a character with similar physical attributes to themselves. About 90% when given the option to personalize their character customize it to look like themselves. Adding elements of their identity- be it physically resembling themselves in the real world or how they see themselves abstractly. (Gamespot, 2014). Like a sort of reflection. Even though it is often an idealized version of themselves, their avatar shares similar characteristics to it's player. This is explored in the book Body and Mind: A Study of Avatar Personalization in Three Virtual (Ducheneaut ,Don Wen, Yee, Wadley, 2009) 

This freedom allows players to project their identity unto their avatar. This connection between the player and avatar is what I'm most interested in studying. For instance, in MMORPGs the sense of the avatar being a direct reflection of the player is important as it is a social platform. 

Thus, the avatar becomes in a sense an extension of self. Players begin to act the way they perceive their character should act. This is what is known as the Proteus effect, based on the Greek god that can take on many forms. In sorts players are themselves ‘protean’ as they create many different forms that they then play with (Gamestop, 2014).

References:

Ducheneaut, N., Wen, M.H., Yee, N. and Wadley, G., 2009, April. Body and mind: a study of avatar personalization in three virtual worlds. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1151-1160). ACM.

Yee, N. and Bailenson, J., 2007. The Proteus effect: The effect of transformed self‐representation on behavior. Human communication research, 33(3), pp.271-290.

Gamestop, 2014. Reality Check - What Are We Hiding? Character Creation Psychology! (Part.1), Reality Check. [video online] Available at: <http://youtu.be/keZmg56ahdM>[Accessed 10 Febuary 2017]