Being an avid gamer I have already explored many online multi-player games such as World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Nexus TK, Second Life, Aspereta, Jedi Knights, Guild Wars, and Everquest. Because of this I decided to investigate new MMO (massively multiplayer online) games. I looked over several general synopsises before deciding to download and play a game called Zero Online. Zero Online is based on futuristic intergalactic robotic warfare where users act as pilots for giant robots. There are several different environments from military bases to asteroid strongholds and they all exude a very metal and high-tech look. While in these different environments there are a variety of activities for users to participate in, from player-versus-players combat arenas to market places. In Zero Online a user is able to create and customize the identities and appearances of their robot and their human avatar who is piloting the robot. I found it interesting that robot appearance is largely influenced by the gender one chooses for their human avatar; males have distinctly male-looking very macho robots, while females are given robots with a more slender looking build and sometimes even shorter. Users can also customize the functions of their robot by choosing which type of combat they want to specialize in, either melee, ranged, or special combat.
For my first character on Zero Online I chose to be female, have a melee robot (close combat), and use a female avatar with a strong, assertive, and tall looking character model. Although I had other avatar choices I picked the one that I felt best represented the robot I chose because she seemed to fit better than some of the other avatars who looked shyer or more fragile. Before even entering the game I believe that I felt more confident in my ability to be successful at this game, and this continued throughout my entire experience. As I was cooperating in the robot wars I often took on more than one enemy at a time, believing that I was capable to defeating them, and I was. Also when I created teams with other users I often found myself in leadership roles, and taking the position of leading the action while leaving others to be support roles.
My experience with Zero Online supports the theory of the Proteus Effect by Yee and Bailenson. The Proteus Effect is the idea that in online environments users may become deindividuated and act in accordance to the new identity that is inferred from their avatars and or act in a way that they feel others would expect them to behave. In this case I chose a human avatar with a strong and assertive personality, and a melee robot which is the largest in size and armor protection. I felt that both of these identities accumulated to the overall confident personality of my online identity.
Another interesting personality characteristic that I developed while playing was that I was socially withdrawn and almost cold. While I would take on leadership roles, I wasn’t anyone’s friend and never acted like it. This is interesting because in all of the other online games that I have played I have always been extremely sociable with other players. The only difference I could find from these past experiences to my experience with Zero Online is that in this game I played as a human piloting a robot. I believe that this change in personality also supports the Proteus Effect in that one can behave based on stereotypes and expectations. Perhaps because when I was playing you would mainly see the robot, rather than the human pilot, I took on what I consider ‘robotic’ characteristics. I expected robots and pilots in wartime to be focused and withdrawn and thus I became.
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http://comm245yellow.blogspot.com/2007/11/ten-finally-bad-ass.html
http://comm245yellow.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-lord-of-rings.html
3 comments:
It’s actually very funny that every time I scan through the blogs, yours usually catches my eye. :P Anyhow, I’m just curious as to whether your female avatar was readily displayed to other players, or whether your robot was particularly feminine. Sometimes it may be easy to see the differences while you’re choosing them, but ingame, it may be more difficult to distinguish. If you were the only one who can see that you have a female avatar, it may also eliminate the factor of behavioral confirmation, which is important in isolating the Proteus effect. I’m curious whether you choose your character because you wanted someone who would seem assertive, or whether you were assertive because you chose such a character. The Lee study mentioned that the factor of choosing avatars may have a potential impact on the Proteus effect; although it predicts that you will be more assertive when you have a taller, stronger looking character, you may also be predisposed to such behavior, considering you did choose it for a reason, whether that reason is subconscious or not.
Yes, Lauren, I would have to say that this post really caught my eye. That game looks awesome and I may start playing in the future. It's interesting how you pointed out the Proteus Effect on your Zero Online behavior. How does this differ from your FtF behavior? It also seems as if your avatar choice affected your behavior since you mentioned that she was tall and that you would take on more than one enemy at that time; definitely not getting the short end of the stick.
Nice Post!
~Saidu
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