Fashion is all around us, and not just IRL but also represented in the online world of MMORPG games like World of Warcraft, where fashion is immaterial and signals something else.
The meaning of dress, 3 ed. anno 2012.
-is trying to create an overview of fashion in other industries then usual. It has a chapter talking about how fashion in the online world Is established, with a special focus on "video game attire" on page 515.
The essence of this article is focused on the psychology behind the creation of an in-game avatar, for MMORPG games like WOW (short for World of Warcraft) especially men's way of showing off fashionable attire and items.
Introdoktion
the Chapter by Keoni Rivera from The University of Hawaii Manoa starts by describing the historical input and creating an understanding of the time development in the gaming sphere. that this topic is consistent with.
Distance and relations
The idea of anonymity is presented as a predorsal behaviour, where you can both hide behind the screens incognito style, or make your personality even more transparent to the world around you, with no limitations to expressing oneself. this behaviour challenges the way of analysing a stringent tendency or even just similarities if everybody can act on both sides of the scale when going online. The text claims, that there are no boundaries in designing your avatar and that the owner can change the output whenever he/she feels like it, but this is not entirely true. even thou it close to being true. Eksamplevise IG Names can't change into something, that someone else already owns. or just wanting to get the gearset one likes since that can either be bound to a quest, an expired limited time or soul-bound.
"An Online Identity is as interchangeable as clothing - it's entirely abstract and impossible to trace back to one's real-life identity, and conveniently amorphous" (s. 514).
The Power of anonymity
disconnected is introduces a way of gaining power, not stopping to use the online media, but by having a second identity that gives your IRL character a short break from reality. This claims to bring back the power to the user by having a scapegoat of another persona, and by acting through there avatar, the user will gain control over oneself inner passion and helping to truly and freely open op for a way of expression.
"The key difference between the two forms of identity (online id + Second id) is that the latter has the potential to be less affected by social fear of ridicule" (s. 515).
A Chosen gender
According to statistics on WOW users, done by the Deaelulus project in 2007, its shown that in the gender distribution 84% of the users are male gamers. But with an almost 50/50% distribution on female and male avatars, the reason for that is questioned. The text claims, that the reason lies in the consumer's perception that all computer players/gamers are men. People, therefore, don't oblige to the idea of staying true to there sex and base an avatar on mere gender, they want to have free access to expressions. But this I would claim as a paradox since the text also states:
"this behaviour affects all gamers in-game credibility, and all are thereby respected solely on terms of how well they play the game" (s. 516).
But in order for this behaviour to be supported one must also be aware of two other factors that play a role when choosing a gender. firstly that the gamers must know about this distribution from earlier experience in the MMORPG WOW. Secondly from other MMORPG platforms have had the same gender distribution required for this behaviour to exist.
Formed by taste or friends