Since Rainbow Six is a team tactical game, the goal is to blend in with one’s surroundings and with one’s team. Accordingly, players are not given exotic choices in appearance and dress. As with most games in this genre, players in the online environments are generally assumed to be male, and discussions during the game are usually practical as relating to strategy or team dynamics. The little bit of individuality that is encouraged usually helps to identify players as part of a clan or team, or as holding a certain position or rank within the group.
Yee and Bailenson’s paper says that the online space will exaggerate a person’s self-presentation and behavioral confirmation. This certainly seemed to apply in this setting. Experienced players were generally known on the server I played on, and they were denoted with ranks and titles, as well as more elaborate uniforms and patches. These leaders took an active role in developing team strategy and telling the other players what to do. Other players seemed to accept their roles in the command structure, generally following orders from the team leader. Also, each player chose their uniform, gear, and weaponry based on the role they had been asked to fill on the team.
My experience with Rainbow Six seemed to support Yee and Bailenson’s claims. I accepted my role within the team by choosing appropriate camouflage, patches, and weaponry, and acted accordingly. Anyone who tried to act out individually was quickly reprimanded by the group, and so the uniformity of appearance seemed to only encourage the players to work as a team. Ultimately, when players conformed to their image as a team member with a specific role, the team performed better as a whole. In this way behavioral confirmation, at least in this online environment, was beneficial.
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3 comments:
Good post here. I liked your description of the different team roles. It certainly seems like your experience confirmed the Proteus Effect if people behave as expected for their given role. This exploration of player class as the individuating factor is something that I found particularly interesting as well; I went into it a bit in my post this week too. I’ve never played Rainbow Six, but its group dynamics sound very different from usual shooters and role-playing games that I’ve experienced. Thanks for the post!
Very good post, I enjoyed your description since i'm a fan of the genre. I also chose a game that didn't have much character specialization as in other games. Thus I liked how you pointed out the Proteus Effect on behaving in your assigned role, which in your case was a private taking orders from a superior. You description seems very reminiscent of SIDE theory in how everyone conforms to the group. The leviathan is definitely at play here. Keep up the good work.
Nice post. You had some similar observations in Rainbow Six as I had in Lord of the Rings Online. Particularly with how roles seemed to be the most important factor that determines both appearance and behavior. I haven’t played any Rainbow Six since the first demo was released way back, so I’m curious about the character customization that you described. It’s interesting how characters that looked out of place were reprimanded. It also is definitely interesting that the Proteus Effect and many other elements of Yee and Bailenson applies in different ways when appearance is more limited.
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