Breakfast Topic: Is that you?
by Olivia Grace 
Jan 14th 2012 at 8:00AM
On a recent BT about gender in WoW, two commenters got my attention. Dez and Nagaina, thanks for replying! The parts that caught my eye from their comments were as follows:
Dez wrote: I know some players consider their toons to be extensions of themselves (1st-person narrative), but personally I see them more as other people whose adventures I am following (3rd-person narrative).
Nagaina wrote: I'm principally a roleplayer. When I create a character, I'm usually doing so for storyline related reasons not representing myself in game related ones.
I personally consider my characters to be extensions of myself. When I refer to them, mentally I'm thinking, "I'm over here," "I'm getting my face chewed off by a murloc," or "I'm going to get myself a kickass new cloak." When I'm talking in game, I do much the same.
The idea of the character as a third person fascinates me. I suppose it might be reflected in games like The Sims where you control the life of a character in a different way or maybe in FPS games where you're controlling a character with a predefined story. Or perhaps it's something that is a big part of roleplaying, creating a story for a character that is (maybe by definition) not your own story. I freely admit to knowing barely anything about roleplaying, so of course there is the strong possibility that all that might be utter nonsense!
What do you think? Are your characters extensions of yourself? Are you representing yourself in game? Or, like Dez and Nagaina, are you following a third person? And why?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
aaron.of.mpls Jan 14th 2012 8:26AM
Mine are a bit of both. I do think of them as extensions of myself, but I also refer to them in the third person when talking about some character-specific things (items, personality, etc.).
blastermyer Jan 14th 2012 8:39AM
I usually consider the characters that are male (as I am male) an extension of myself. The female characters that I play, I play in third person. Split personality? Maybe.
musicchan Jan 14th 2012 12:31PM
I'm sort of like this too. My druid is always ME, whether I'm role-playing or not. My male paladin is almost always "him." I don't think I'm more separated from him and when I'm actually RPing, it's a very personal thing. But when I talk to other people about him out of character, I feel like there needs to be something there so people don't think I think I'm a male or something. It's weird, I know.
I will also yell at my male paladin as if he's a different person sometimes. "C'mon! The guy is RIGHT THERE! Why didn't you hit him!?"
LynMars Jan 14th 2012 1:55PM
I do this when splitting between OOC and IC stuff. I want things for my achievement-hunter and collector toon so refer to it as "I want", "I am getting" etc. Gameplay aspects like raids, where it's my skills being tested, get 1st person treatment during combat. I talk about abstracts like throughput and dps numbers as "mine."
But I play specifically on an RP server, so my characters are not myself. Most of the time, I refer to my characters in 3rd person--*especially and always* when talking about RP and IC related matters. One of the things that made my priest's IC relationship work well was said by my friend: "it's not creepy to RP this stuff with you, as we're just telling a story together about these 2 people." This was after he had awkward encounters with another female RPer who tended to get a little too personal with her RP partners and scare them off. It felt good that we could trust each other to delve into that particular minefield and keep the IC, IC.
I like to write, and have been RPing online and tabletop for years. My characters have stories of their own and are their own people (much as I can make them different from each other and myself; some more than others, depending!). So I approach it like a writer telling a story.
It also helps keep a distinct barrier between my IC actions and words, and my OOC actions and words. There are characters I love IC whose players I cannot stand--and players I love whose characters I dislike. For me, as a long time RPer and writer, the split between "character" and "player" is a strict one, as is the gulf between "story/game" and "real life." I always feel bad for people who can't make those distinctions--and I tend to avoid them.
TNK Jan 14th 2012 8:35AM
Since I began, WoW has been a vessel for me to explore characters from my original works in more of a real time environment. It really has helped me with my sense of immersion as well as learning things about my characters I hadn't yet realized. My first WoW character ever (and, unsurprisingly my main, a female human warrior) is based on my favorite character I've created.
In October I made a rogue based on a character I made that's very special to me. Knowing that I wasn't just leveling a female night elf rogue, but I was leveling her in particular, made the journey much more enjoyable.
SomnambulistArygos Jan 14th 2012 8:47AM
I'm a bit of an altaholic (every class toat least 80 so far) and I can say with confidence that every one of my chars has their own story and personality. It's not anything that I've say down and developed, per se, it's something that's grown organically from hours and hours played.
For instance, my main is a grumpy undead priest, annoyed at people who carelessly stand in bad stuff (it would be so much easier if you mind control them out, but then they get angry) and at being denied the quiet embrace of death. My goblin shaman, on the other hand, loves swinging her hammers at enemies, mostly because she'd rather be back in her workshop making some new toy that will fail spectacularly as soon as she tries to use it. She also annoys her trainers by constantly asking if it would be possible to use her fire elemental to power a steam engine she's dreaming up. And so on, and so on...
Noyou Jan 14th 2012 9:29AM
This so much ^^. I also cycle through 10+ alts on any given day. Each one has part of me in them and each one has their own quirks. I guess I have a lot of quirks to go around. I am not a RPer in the literal sence, but I RP certain things in my head and sometimes it leaks into the game. Yesterday my Paladin was in Goldshire and there was a dead body on the ground. So I asked the guard, "Guard, who killed this man?' As soon as I noticed it was a Goblin, I dismissed it and went on my way. So I both refer to my toons in the first and third person, which might be weird. I dunno. There is definitely lots of me in each one of my toons :p I guess each one is how I would be if I were them, if that makes sense.
Luotian Jan 14th 2012 10:45AM
A lot of mine have done that. Several began as meta-roleplay with my sister and I playing characters from other things stuck in WoW. Several times, they have grown to be someone else entirely. My favorite little girly mage with a phobia of water started that way, started as someone else entirely.
Dez Jan 14th 2012 9:00AM
Ooh, I'm in an article! Thanks for the five minutes of fame, WoW Insider. :D
ramsayroderick Jan 14th 2012 9:10AM
LOL! :P
Asfaay Jan 15th 2012 10:14AM
Mine are definitely 3rd person. I have 2 toons that I play equally. When talking to others, I'll say that my hunter was really disappointed in ds this week. Or my priest is feeling a lot of pressure to get her achievements done. But I never actually refer to myself in first person.
Sanguinne Jan 14th 2012 9:10AM
My characters all have differing personalities, generally based on what class/role they are, however I think of them all as extensions of myself. I suppose they all embody different aspects of my personality. I also almost always pick troll (female), the closest body type to mine in WoW.
Noyou Jan 14th 2012 9:30AM
My what big feet you have! :p
Sanguinne Jan 14th 2012 9:37AM
Thanks ;)
byronius_prime Jan 14th 2012 8:34PM
Same here - my death knight is Thassarian-y, honorable, yet ruthless. My mage is an absent-minded professor. My rogue and warrior(currently levelling together) portray different aspects of combat for me, guile and raw strength. I also play humans mostly(all the above are human males for example) because I have difficulty imagining myself as a different species... :P
ramsayroderick Jan 14th 2012 9:10AM
I'm sort of a split personality, I guess. When I create a character, I have a whole back-story thought out in my head for who he is; where he comes from; his family history; what his goals are; likes and dislikes; etc. But when I am actually playing, I think in terms of "I". "I'm over here". "I better run". "I wailed on that mob". "I just got pwned". "I'm gonna smash that hunter". I get absorbed in vicariously being the character. It's part of the fun for me, to immerse myself in the character's adventures, as opposed to just thinking about leveling, gear, loot, etc. And btw, I play on a PvP server (Burning Blade - US, Horde), not RP.
Pam Jan 14th 2012 10:44AM
It drives my in-game friends crazy, but when I talk about my alts, I talk about them as individuals. Like *Mainsname* cares about achievements, but *altsname* doesn't.
Each of my druids are like a part of me. My main's personality is older, wiser, more serious, she's been there, done that. My 2nd druid tries so hard to keep up with the first one, gear and achievements, but just doesn't quite make it, she starts out on top of my main...but then slowly falls behind. My 3rd one is the fun, goofy me, like a reflection of a younger me. My 4th one is kinda a loner, little slow, always finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I kinda switch between talking about them in 3rd person, to talking to them like it's me.
For example, if I'm on an alt, and that alt wins something that my main wants, I will find myself saying "*Mainnsame* is going to be so jealous when she finds out *Altsname* won that piece.
If we are in the middle of a fight, and I make a mistake, it's always in first person. "I'm such a noob."
sunflowers4488 Jan 14th 2012 9:12AM
This is a great breakfast topic!!
I have to say that it feels like the answer is a little of both. I see my characters from a third person point of view, because I look at RPGs more from a story perspective than other games. But the nice thing about a game like WoW is that the characters are very open.. lots of room to put yourself in. Many successful writers swear by this- they say that they purposely leave main characters a little wiggle room for the reader to subconsciously put themselves into that character. This makes the story more personal, more enjoyable, for a lot of people.
I think, in the end, it all gets tangled up for many of us. It's just too deep for us to notice most of the time. I want to get into a serious philosophical discussion about the nature of fiction from here.. but it's too early in the morning right now.
Noyou Jan 14th 2012 9:32AM
Agreed on the breakfast topic. Olivia is quickly becoming one of my favorites to read ;)
Revnah Jan 14th 2012 9:19AM
Like others have said, it's a bit of both. To me it's similar to when I'm writing stories - the characters all have parts of me in them, but none of the characters *are* me. If I couldn't relate to a toon at all, I doubt I'd want to play them, but they are definitely not me.
And that's true although, like you, I often think of them in the first person when I'm playing. Go figure!