World of Warcraft

I chose to play World of Warcraft. It seems to be more action-intense, and if I were to play it, at least I know a couple of acquaintances that could help me get started on it. I chose a Tauren, due primarily to its visual apperance, and not much more beyond that: He just looks intimidating. I decided to be a hunter as I like the ability to travel with a pet and fight from long distances.

I would probably name my character "Spratticus" or some similar variation on my last name, but I like that one for this because of its closeness to Spartacus. Very warrior-ish. Tauren-esque. I would want my character to be a complete bad-@&%, as I honestly don't think I'd have much interest in joining up often with groups or guilds. The fact that the hunter is good at soloing with his animal sidekick is appealing, I would want to be a lone-wolf type in the game. This wouldn't be very similar to my real identity, but, not knowing much about the game, that is the persona I would want to project if I ever played it.

(Do you have any avatars/characters that you are using now in any type of video/computer game or virtual world? if so - what are they like? if not - why not?)

I guess the closest thing would be creating players in sports games based on myself, which I've done a few times in the past. It can be pretty fun to mess around with the apperance, but generally I try to model them pretty close on myself, just for the fact that it's fun to see yourself skating on a line with Mats Sundin, with "Spratt" written across your character's back. The enjoyment out of creating a character like that is that for most of us, it's the closest we'll ever get to making it to the pros.

I'm not really sure if an avatar's apperance or personality would matter, but from the readings this week (June 3rd), it certainly appears to matter for some. I find this kinda disheartening, but maybe it suggest that the virtual world is not as altogether utopian and different from real-world society as one might hope it is.