gamer body image/self image

[KitanaVorr]

Originally posted by MarauderX
Looking back, I think I am more let down by the WotC people than anything. They were looking for the stereotypical gamer I suppose, and I was not it by wearing a sports jersey. I have come to know that this means nothing about a person, but disappointing when others do not.

Do be do be do.

Hey at least you don't get asked the inevitable...."Are you buying this for your boyfriend?" every time...

 

[Ashe]

The part that I think is most interesting is something I'm sure we have all seen. In the groups that I have gamed with. I have noticed that players create their characters in the image that they would like to be. I one player had a god complex and he always had a high int and cha score. The chr score is so he could get women(he wasn't the best looking person). another group a player always was able to dance and had to have the highest chr score possible. This was for EVERY character he played. I've seen scrawney people play the strongest fighter.

I always thought it would be interesting to get some kind of psychological study done on various gaming groups and their characters. Of course this breaks down in min/max groups because it is all about the numbers and not roleplaying.

 

[KitanaVorr]

Actually, I'm afraid of playing characters that aren't similiar to me because I think I might be terrible at it. I'm a method type actor and I need to be completely and wholly knowledgeable about a character. I feel absolutely uncomfortable playing characters with knowledge bases that I don't have because I could be totally making idiotic guesses.

Its probably why alot of my characters always tend to be super intelligent because I don't know how not to be a smart-ass. But even the characters I don't give a high charisma (and I usually don't unless it fits their character type) to 99% of the time end up being perceived as having a high charisma. Which probably shows how really bad I must be at playing to that stat or something. I also realize how I usually play a bard or wizard in D&D and in D20 Modern its nearly always a scientist and in Vampire its a singer or socialite.

 

[bwgwl]

I have noticed that players create their characters in the image that they would like to be.

not always. i'm currently playing in two campaigns. in one, i'm playing a gruff, dirty, yet dependable and courageous dwarf barbarian. in the other, i'm playing a flighty, amoral, urbane, and somewhat flippant elf rogue. (my "real" personality is probably closer to the dwarf's, but i'm not having any trouble getting into the elf's character either.)

on the whole, it does seem that many gamers pick characters that are either very like themselves or as you say very like what they would like themselves to be, but i haven't found that to be a hard and fast rule.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I inherited a generous chest, hips and a butt (thank you J-Lo for making those attributes popular!)

Amen to that , sister

At J-Lo's done something good for society...

waifs be damned....

~S

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

Well, any ideas on what you're going to switch to? I recommend perhaps something like a character from a movie or anime that closely but not completely matches your personality. That's what I did.

In the meantime, perhaps a self-pic with...I dunno...a little less glare? Try photoshopping the pic to reduce the gamma a bit, or have someone else do it.

I usually use a bat, or Esmeralda from the animated Hunchback of Notre Dame. I need to get in Photoshop and re-size them to avatar size...which I'm pretty lazy, so I'll do it when I get to it...

I know that self picture has horrible glare. I took it myself for a thing I was writing that required a headshot. I rather overestimated the need for flash...

dang new fangled digital camera...

 

[bwgwl]

waifs be damned....

heh. whenever i see one of them waifs on TV, the first thing i think of is along the lines of "Darn girl! have a sandwich!"

and if J Lo is most people's poster girl for non-waifishness, i don't even mention where my tastes lie... i thought J Lo was one of those sandwich-needing girls...

 

[fusangite]

MarauderX said

Looking back, I think I am more let down by the WotC people than anything. They were looking for the stereotypical gamer I suppose, and I was not it by wearing a sports jersey. I have come to know that this means nothing about a person, but disappointing when others do not.

Then KitanaVorr said

Hey at least you don't get asked the inevitable...."Are you buying this for your boyfriend?" every time...

You people and your high-class problems. "Oh no!" you lament, "I'm so good looking that I'm made to feel out of place in gaming stores." Awww, you poor poor creatures. Are your diamond shoes pinching too?

Hey -- I'm a straight male but even I'd be flattered if someone asked me if I was buying a product for my boyfriend. Pardon the rest of us gamers while we express absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for your terrible plight of being better dressed and more attractive than the rest of us.

 

[talinthas]

i look pretty much exactly like my avatar, aside from the whole cel shaded thing.

 

[KitanaVorr]

Originally posted by fusangite
You people and your high-class problems. "Oh no!" you lament, "I'm so good looking that I'm made to feel out of place in gaming stores." Awww, you poor poor creatures. Are your diamond shoes pinching too?

Hey -- I'm a straight male but even I'd be flattered if someone asked me if I was buying a product for my boyfriend. Pardon the rest of us gamers while we express absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for your terrible plight of being better dressed and more attractive than the rest of us.

*flutters a limpy wrist in your direction*

You're quite right! My Diamond Manolo's are really pinching today!