A.10, Wookiee's do not appreciate the view

After a long week of normalcy, I was happy to embrace any type of paranormal activity. Thus, for Assignment 10, I sought the Force.

My friend is a fiendish MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) user, and, in line with his filmic interests, his favorite game in this genre is Star Wars Galaxies, or SWG, to fans. The game has a somewhat outdated feel—thanks to Moore’s Law, et cetera—despite being released merely 4 years ago. For me, however, this is the peak of multiplayer video game technology: despite a fairly recent game of Mario Party 8 on the Wii, I haven’t picked up a controller or fought against Dark Jedi forces since my Freshman year of high school. But, from what I can tell, things have progressed nicely from the release date of Star Wars Galaxies (see Portal or Call of Duty 4 as examples of novel gameplay and updated graphics since SWG release).

I entered SWG on one of several worlds; I had assigned myself to the profession of a “brawler,” and was assigned categories with rating levels of “0.” I chose to be of the Wookiee race, with the pseudonym “Randolf_the_Smaller.” It was immediately perceptible that the limited choice of beginner professions allowed for both over-attribution (i.e., my perception of other players vis-à-vis their avatar and profession selections) and selective self-presentation by the participant (e.g., me as a Wookiee). Dyadic interaction is between two or more avatars in SWG, which introduced the behavioral conformation element that J. Bailenson’s Proteus Effect study excluded intentionally. In confirmation with the research team’s experienced, I found it was difficult to distinguish my actions as behavioral confirmation or Proteus Effect, upon later reflection.

As a novice, I was a mere lone wolf in the galaxy with little talent and little armor. Though I was probably indistinguishable in my first few encounters (all benign “welcome to the Galaxy”-types), I grew progressively hostile towards other creatures, especially non-humans, as the game continued. (I could dynamically track my kill stats and aggression as I progressed in the game, as well as the booty I nabbed from the other players and creatures, some of which were artificially intelligent.) I consider my aggressiveness to be a preconscious perception of my role as a Wookiee—a beastly yet homely creature—and, with more conviction, I believe that my targeting of non-human characters was affected by my own beastly visage and inhumanity. Chewbacca was, after all, was like a vicious pet in the original Star Wars. Thus, as I played longer, my playing resembled someone “deindividuated in online environments” that was inferring an identity “from their avatar” (Bailenson 273-274).

Conservations with other SWG players tended to be a bit cold, or oddly friendly (e.g., [CaptaineSymbol] “I wish we could cuddle”). Despite one attempt, I was not invited to travel with the one large clique I sought to join on the planet. I suspect my resultant loner wandering was more of a behavioral confirmation than Proteus Effect, as the Wookiee is a social species (re: the film); I don’t think I was driven to be a more anti-social creature killer by my Wookieeness, but by the other players’ passive aggressive or exclusive behavior. The sum total of my actions were both unconsciously/preconsciously implied by my character (I didn’t flirt with anyone), and performed in confirmation of others cool reaction to my wooly presence (the loner behavior).