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New York, 11:43 PM
Sat Nov 21
25 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/16/09
I was her for Halloween. #princesspeach
11/16/09
Quit covering things up and make it work! #princesspeach
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11/16/09
I don't know why I'm spending so much time defending Luigi. #princesspeach
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11/06/09
11/07/09
@Brawlita: For fun I tried to create The Endless from Neil Gaiman's Sandman in the Sims once. Trying to create an accurate Despair was nearly impossible, and not just because I couldn't have her naked. #videogames
11/06/09
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11/06/09
He reads superhero comics (side note: I dislike Uncanny X-Men and was so disappointed in the lack of race, gender ANYTHING nuances. I had heard so many good things about X-Men and it just didn't stack up). I get annoyed with people who draw all the women with the same bodies. Granted, they draw men all the same, too. But this is what's frustrating! People look different! Give them different proportions and faces!
He argues that it's an escape fantasy, and that people want to read about what are essentially wet dreams about what they wish they were - beautiful, strong, superpowered, adventurous, whathaveyou people. I think that's bull. I want to play lots of different people when I game. I always choose a race other than human (or its equivalent), because I find that more fun. I make characters that I wouldn't really ever want to be, but I want to explore what it might be like to be a princess, or an assassin, or have giant-ass horns. He always picks someone who is more or less him.
I don't want a fantasy world full of idealized characters. I want flaws, I want scars and missing limbs, different races, different genders, sexualities, abilities and all of that. It's so much more of an escape fantasy that way, I feel. I don't want to be me, I want to be someone else, to try to figure out what that might be like. I'm wrong, of course, but it helps me relate to people better. I remember playing a deaf woman, and how challenging it was to know that she couldn't hear anything (it was D&D and she was a bard. That was a roleplaying challenge). It made me think about my own abilities, my own prejudices, and my privilege to be able to hear in a way that I probably never would have experienced in any other way. Do I know what it's like to be deaf? Of course not. But it made me think more about what life would be like and made me a little more sympathetic to my own privilege.
I don't think this is necessarily a dangerous thing, but I think it's like erosion. A little is not that big of a deal. But over time, it starts to matter. We start to see this as "normal" - I know too many people who already do. They see this as what men/women should strive to be, and those who don't are strange and uneducated. This is the picture of health and beauty, and they won't settle for less. Sometimes for themselves, but most often for partners. I don't think video games will like, bring down society or anything, but I think it can exacerbate problems that already exist. It doesn't happen overnight, but over years and years of escaping into this fantasy, so many of my friends seem to have trouble breaking out of it. #videogames
11/06/09
Tell him to read Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. The three main characters are a woman with multiple personalities, a man who had his brain put in a metal body, and a male/female amalgamation. #videogames
11/06/09
The other points you made are valid, we do struggle with real life images and ideas on sexuality in a platform that allows you to be anything you wish (yes even a Panda!). I think that many of us make our avatars an idealized version of ourselves.
I would invite you to look into the Second Life fashion community for just a small sample of the blogs out there. I think you would be surprised that there are some realistic looking avatars represented there along with yes many fashion model looking avatars. Here is a link to one of the fashion feeds: [fashion.shopaholicfeed.com]
Also, the photo you attached to your article is at least 4 years old and in no way represents current avatar, fashion or even architectural trends in Second Life. #videogames
11/06/09
And yes, SL does change often - I generally do race research on games and there are some interesting articles published about racial representation in SL and how that has changed as time goes on and the gaming population changes.
As for realistic looking avatars, I would expect no less - as a black player, I always try to make my avatars as close to myself as possible, as a way of representation. I would not be surprised if many women - especially those sick of the ideal - modeled their avatars as closely after themselves as possible.
As for the photo, I just went looking for SL people with boobs. Thanks for your comments though! #videogames
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