Earlier in the semester, we were assigned to enter an online space that we had never been on before and interact with others. I decided to play World of Warcraft, and an entire new world was revealed to me. I have not played since that day, so I decided to make a glorious return to the game for Assignment 10.
Like the first time I played, I used one of my friend’s avatars since I did not have one. He is a towering figure, a Barbarian of sorts, but with warlock capabilities. You probably you do know what this means, but that is fine because I don’t either. Basically my friend explained that his character is a rare yet powerful one with a very high skill level. This sounded good to me.
My experience playing the game did in fact support the Proteus effect and the hypotheses presented by Yee and Bailensen. The Proteus effect says that users may become deindividuated online and begin to act like their new, online identity, otherwise known as an avatar. People may begin to abandon their real self and begin to act in accordance with stereotypes associated with their avatar appearance. My character was a tall, shirtless barbarian, similar to a modern day Hercules of sorts. I felt empowered and in control, like no one could stand up and stop me. Yee and Bailensen hypothesized hat taller and more attractive figures may act more dominant in these situations.
One of the first things I did was go into a shop and try to sell bags of gold to other characters. I approached a group of three characters that consisted of a woman warlock, a small, red-haired barbarian, and a small, monster like creature. In other words, their avatars could not compare with the physical specimen that was my avatar. I suavely asked if any of them needed what I was selling, and the woman warlock said sure and bought some. My friend told me that by looking at the woman’s possessions and characteristics, he could tell that she was in no real dire need of acquiring gold. Therefore, this shows me that she gave in to the power of my avatar. The appearance of a big, strong, handsome, imposing figure affected the way she acted. My tall stature, attractive appearance, and high skill level in a sense made me fearless and unafraid to interact with any player.
One other interaction that conformed to the Proteus effect was when I decided to engage on a group mission with five other characters. We had to select a group leader for the mission, and I boldly volunteered despite the act that I had no idea what I was doing. This idea was accepted wholeheartedly by the group with no objections whatsoever. This is in line with the thoughts and ideas of Yee and Bailensen because I felt empowered by my stature and appearance, essentially eliminating most if not all fear. I wanted to lead, and felt an obligation of responsibility of sorts as such an imposing figure to lead. And at the same time, the smaller, less imposing characters agreed to let me do so because they were almost subservient to a massive, more attractive character. They did not offer alternatives or stand up to volunteer. I believe my character’s appearance swayed them from doing this.
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2 comments:
Hello Jacob, it's a great post. I also wrote about WOW. My experience supported the Proteus effect as yours did. People would set an image based on their self-presentation in Internet and try to meet up with the expectation. I think your interactions with other people online are a good example of the Proteus effect.
From your post, it sounded like you had two competing phenomenon interacting to produce changes in your behavior. The Proteus effect definitely seemed to apply to your interactions but behavioral confirmation played a role as well. People treated you as if you should be a dominant figure and you behaved in such a manner that confirmed their expectations. Other players treated you as if you were a dominant figure and you behaved in that manner as well. I thought it was funny that other players readily agreed to let you lead the mission you were going on. How did that end up turning out? I guess they assumed, since you had such a high skill level, that you must have known what you were doing. I hope your mission didn’t end in disaster, though it would be pretty funny to see the reactions of everyone in your group when it was revealed that you didn’t know what you were doing.
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