For this assignment, I decided to make my little brother happy and try out World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is the largest MMORPG where you can pick a race, class, and professions. Since you generally have to pay to play, I downloaded the client and logged onto my brothers account, and created a new character in one of the PvP (player vs. player) realms. I picked the
Once I watched the beginning trailer, I found myself in the middle of a town area with no clue what to do. When I asked for help on the public chat, lots of people offered their help. Within a half an hour I advanced six levels, and teamed up with another newbie to do some of the “quests.” Later on while I was playing, I came across a more experienced player, who played with me for about an hour and helped me gain many more levels. This player (who was a big strong looking Draenei character and had a male avatar) also gave me money and bought me a good first set of weapons and gear. In general everyone I came across on WoW seemed helpful to me. Whenever someone used terms or acronyms in the chat, I asked what they were and no one bashed me for being new.
Yee and Bailenson describe the Proteus Effect as conforming to behavior they believe others expect them to have due to their avatars. I observed this slightly during my time playing the game. The gnome is a really tiny character compared with the others. They also appear kind of funny and goofy. Once I learned how to use the voice emotes, I noticed their voice also fit this description. I used the emotes and acted as how I believed people would think a small gnome would act. I also found myself walking close to other avatars. In the game I didn't partake in any negotiating although that is definitely part of the game at higher levels, so I am not sure if the Proteus Effect comes into play in that aspect of WoW. When I talked with other characters, I found myself disclosing a lot more than I thought I would, in accordance with the effect.
Another thing I found interesting was that I definitely found myself perceiving others based on their avatar. The guy who came to my aid seemed like a big strong type guy, where as other small gnomes I met, I perceived completely differently. I also think my choosing a girl avatar prompted more people to show me the ropes and help me out. I wonder what would happen if I chose the same type of character but made it male.
2 comments:
Hi Caslynn,
What does the little bro think of your escapade? I'm sure you made him proud! I think it's interesting that you got so much help from other characters, but I suppose that would be examined more closely under our theories of online support. As far as the Proteus effect goes, I imagine that the players online are more experienced with the different abilities that come with different avatars, and it is to this that they pay more attention than the apparent height of the character. Did you find yourself feeling particularly meek around taller characters? It seems that the WoW environment might be different than the environment used by Yee and Bailenson because more experienced players come to respect different classes based on merit than physical appearance. Overall, very good post!
The character you chose was very interesting. I think that many people choose a tall skinny female to test if what Yee and Bailenson concluded was actually true. I liked that you picked a random character and then compared your incounters to their conclusions. I suppose that because you did pick a girl people were more willing to help you than to help a boy. This explains why a big strong man came to help out a cute little girl. Since you were much shorter than others, I wonder if you felt less-confident when others would tower over you. Yee and Bailenson state that you would have different behaviors with a taller character, and therefore act more confident.
It is surprising that everyone helped you and was very forgiving when you didn't know what you were doing. When I entered second life for the first time, many people would not talk to me when i asked them for assistance. I think it was especially nice of that man to give you money for weapons...i feel that may not have happened if you were an ugly male.
Overall though I thought you did a good job displaying you understanding of Yee and Bailenson. I enoyed how you approached the assignment.
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