Real question...No joke...

[gsmanners]

 

Okay, I'll bite.

 

Why the hell do people ALWAYS stupidly play as themselves? Why? Is it a mental disease or just plain ignorance?

Yes, because playing as yourself (someone you can easily identify with.. obviously) in a videogame is really just stupid and something only an uneducated fool would do, right?

I think it is stupid, yes.

 

You are yourself, not some character in a video game. You play game in particular because you want to escape being yourself for a while. That's the whole friggan point. Duh.

[Guest deleted4349949]

 

 

Okay, I'll bite.

 

Why the hell do people ALWAYS stupidly play as themselves? Why? Is it a mental disease or just plain ignorance?

Yes, because playing as yourself (someone you can easily identify with.. obviously) in a videogame is really just stupid and something only an uneducated fool would do, right?

I think it is stupid, yes.

 

You are yourself, not some character in a video game. You play game in particular because you want to escape being yourself for a while. That's the whole friggan point. Duh.

I'll challenge that view. When I was much younger, I'd role play the PC in Baldur's Gate 1&2 (D&D-based RPG) as myself.... I was playing it for the escapism, but from the boring and tedious real world, not from myself. I loved imagining roaming through strange and mystical lands, trying to imagine what decisions I would make if I were actually presented with the crazy situations and dire pleads for help my character would run into left and right. Then before bed, I would lose myself in vivid 'daydreams' of that world - still as myself - replaying the quests but in much deeper detail, and with my own twists and surprises. Hell, I still do that from time to time today!

So, for me, diving into the deep end of an RPG is about transporting myself to another world/time/universe.. one that challenges my real life perceptions of good/evil/right/wrong. Also, if you've been having a bad day, it's always nice to blast the skin off somebody's face with a well-placed fireball as *yourself* rather than some random trope or archetype.

[Anska]

 

 

 

Okay, I'll bite.

 

Why the hell do people ALWAYS stupidly play as themselves? Why? Is it a mental disease or just plain ignorance?

Yes, because playing as yourself (someone you can easily identify with.. obviously) in a videogame is really just stupid and something only an uneducated fool would do, right?

I think it is stupid, yes.

 

You are yourself, not some character in a video game. You play game in particular because you want to escape being yourself for a while. That's the whole friggan point. Duh.

I'll challenge that view. When I was much younger, I'd role play the PC in Baldur's Gate 1&2 (D&D-based RPG) as myself.... I was playing it for the escapism, but from the boring and tedious real world, not from myself. I loved imagining roaming through strange and mystical lands, trying to imagine what decisions I would make if I were actually presented with the crazy situations and dire pleads for help my character would run into left and right. Then before bed, I would lose myself in vivid 'daydreams' of that world - still as myself - replaying the quests but in much deeper detail, and with my own twists and surprises. Hell, I still do that from time to time today!

So, for me, diving into the deep end of an RPG is about transporting myself to another world/time/universe.. one that challenges my real life perceptions of good/evil/right/wrong. Also, if you've been having a bad day, it's always nice to blast the skin off somebody's face with a well-placed fireball as *yourself* rather than some random trope or archetype.

 

I'll add to what Shiver said. If you play as a made up character, you always explore that character just as much as you explore the game-world itself, because you always have to ask yourself what your character would do as opposed to what you yourself would do. Some people just don't seem to like that. They are more interested in the game-world an story itself than in exploring how different characters would react to the game world. While I don't play as myself and it had never occurred to me that other people might do so before reading this forum, I don't think it's stupid or ignorant to do it either. It is simply a different approach with a different focus of interest.

Edited May 27, 2013 by Anska

[Georgiegril]

ive asked many people this. i NEVER play as a woman if i can help it. call me chauvinistic but i think females are meant to be more feminine. i have no idea what i would do if i was a girl in these games, and dont really want to imagine that either... guys who play as girls are just not immersion gamers i think

1. Feminine is a culture-bound paradigm--what a culture ascribes as desired traits. Feminine (and masculine) can thereby be broadly interpreted in any imaginary world, as they have accross various times and cultures on our planet. What was considered masculine in 19th century Europe included a number of traits which we would now consider to be more feminine. The construct is fluid.

2. With sufficient imagination and the ability to empathize, I think one could immerse oneself in any character--even a cat, or an elf.

[AnkhAscendant]

I basically always play as a pretty guy. Of course, I'm not a guy of any flavor, so I'm the mirror of the intended answerer... :P I almost always play as a character I already have established though - never as myself, to contribute to the secondary argument. Games are more like an interactive story that I'm writing my character through, and I'd like my protagonist to be a badass pretty guy.

[Kaidonni]

I choose female characters because they are not me and I am not them. I'm exploring the story and game through an individual completely separate from me. I've often felt that my attempts at playing male characters result in avatars of me, they are too close in one way or another to my identity.

[Nodtveidt]

I always play as a Male because i found it more realistic

no offence to woman but men in overall are more stronger then woman..

[rhowington]

I play through alternating between genders. Right now my character is a female named Budika in homage to Boudicca. My problem is I still think like a male and I play her just like I would a male character and when I go looking for a wife I know it will be a woman. Whereas when playing a male I still look for a woman for marriage. The point is, my viewpoint is clouded simply because of my natural sexual orientation, and I can't seem to overcome that. Be it a male or female character, I just play them the same, and learn very little by the experience.

 

Another way to put it is I always play a warrior, never a mage. I have tried being a mage but get frustrated that I can't get up close and lop off a head or thrust my sword through a body.

 

I am destined to be what I am and can't find a way to change.

[CabelD]

Okay, I'll bite.

 

Why the hell do people ALWAYS stupidly play as themselves? Why? Is it a mental disease or just plain ignorance?

 

+1

 

Mental disease. It's called LOCDAC (Lack of Original Content Due to Absence of Creativity.) It is found commonly in; hipsters, MMO players, FPS players, and elitists. The most common expression used to rationalize this choice is "I enjoy playing myself, because I am an individual. I want to experience this through ME. Not someone that's fake." b&@*$ please, go play your Everquest.

[Georgiegril]

 

Okay, I'll bite.

 

Why the hell do people ALWAYS stupidly play as themselves? Why? Is it a mental disease or just plain ignorance?

 

+1

 

Mental disease. It's called LOCDAC (Lack of Original Content Due to Absence of Creativity.) It is found commonly in; hipsters, MMO players, FPS players, and elitists. The most common expression used to rationalize this choice is "I enjoy playing myself, because I am an individual. I want to experience this through ME. Not someone that's fake." *censored* please, go play your Everquest.

The problem here is that "stupidly" and "play" are assumed to go together.

One can play quite stupidly as a wide variety of characters.

By the same token one can creatively and thoughtfully play as oneself.