Into Azeroth & Virtual Embodiment Reflection Paper

Into Azeroth & Virtual Embodiment Reflection Paper

World of Warcraft, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, commonly referred to as MMORPG, takes place in the world of Azeroth, where sword and sorcery are prevalent. It requires the creation of an avatar within the game, like many other multiplayer games. That character explores a landscape, fight a number of monsters, complete quests and interact with other players. When creating the character, there is a need to take a decision about the class and race of it. This is an important decision for the game, since it has an effect on the how we play the game. Defining the class helps in indicating what the character can and cannot do, since with each class there is offered a vastly different experience of game. The selection of race was for the looks of the character and also for his faction.

The class I chose for my character was “Hunter”, the race I chose was “Night Elf” and I named the character as “Iamthehunter”. The following is a snapshot of what my character looked like.

I chose the name of the character as “Iamthehunter” to explicitly state the class it belongs to and proclaim the identity it carries as soon as the name is taken, and to send the message to the enemies to beware. The hunter class really appealed to me since they are the ones who are able to endure the challenges that surround them with the help of the abilities they possess, such as that of slipping like ghosts through the trees and laying traps in the path of the enemies. There are many other things that were appealing about the character, such as the expert marksmanship that helped in killing the enemies and tracking of beasts with ease and also of taming them. Hunter's ability of forming bonds with wild animals so that they also fight for them is also what drove me to choose this character since I also like to have strong bond with animals and want them on my side. I chose a male character, which was a decision that I believe was influenced by the perception that I have about men being physically stronger and more powerful than that of the opposite sex and the muscular build of the character exhibits and adds to the portrayal of the strength that the character possesses for combating the enemies. Upon reflection on my choice of character and the traits of it, I found out how there are gender roles that predominate our perception and make us stereotype. Taylor (2002) stated in his account that “Digital bodies tell the world something about yourself. They are a public signal of who you are. They also shape and help make real how users internally experience their selves”. This was significantly true in the manner I took decisions related to my character for the virtual world.

Once the character was made, the real game started and there were some ...