A summary of the interview (episode 1first part, on the avatar podcast), reveals the relationship that Morten has to his avatar slamdunk.
Firstly he shares a bit about some of his visions for getting involved in the world of gamers, how he has always felt at home in the society and how both him and his friend Simon Oberländer (Stormbro) both joked around in their pre-teens, that someday they would conquer the gaming industry and be a part of the e-sports evolution.
Slamdunkz
Morten feels that his character slamdunkz are a piece of his soul and all characters through time represent a certain time of his life. he has had much over 50 different avatars in his lifetime, and the newest favourite is shown in the picture below.
Weapons
Morten likes the bigger characters since "the weapon just seems cooler when big, bulky and twohanded, and the same item for a gnome, just doesn't look as cool". (12.50)
Characteristics
Mortens imagines his avatar (in human age) that he would be around 35 years old, be a humble but confident figure with a history of guarding and shielded his fallen allies. his Skillset is not the biggest, but blacksmithing and engineering would be his toolset of skills since he would be crafty and curious about how things should be put together.
BUT, it will not be a story-driven choice, rather a grinding possibility towards more gold, it comes down to another skill, Morten would change this in a blink of an eye.
"I would choose these skills based on his personality, well if he had a personality since he is just a character (18:30)".
Visually in his Blood gladiator set.
Morten describes slamdunks fitness LV. with the character "the mountain" from the game of thrones, that is broad and tough. and from a scale from 1 to 10 as in really ugly undead to pretty hot elf, he thins Slamdunkz wold be a 6,5 In-Game Hotness. There are no marks or battle scars., but the beard is normally in a braided style. All the visuals are gained by playing and completing tasks and haven't been bought with IRL money. The gear worn on the avatar is described to look like an American footballer set, since it's not too over ornamented, despite the blood elf heads on the shoulders. Morten tells me that they are the most esthetic parts, as a branded trademark (25:00). on top of this, Morten likes the simple style on his avatar with hidden cloak and helmet, and always chooses the colour red, since he is on the horde side. when Asked about Wearing the Clothing IRL or incorporating some of the visuals, made Morten think of grooming his IRL beard into the IG style (45.05).
The Tabart and status
This is like a symbolic piece, that one can weak on top of an amour. Morten ones earned the stone guards Tabbert and have since transmogrified the layout (changed the visual look, in an in-game fashion store) on to any item, so it looks like this piece (unless it a legendary item, since they can't be changed).
"Lets dum it down a bit. Yes! Gear certainly shows Status"(34:10).
- imagen a trifork with lightning as a Legendary item on a hunter. well, this doesn't make any sense, since a hunter can't wield these kinds of weapons. But This person behind the avatar was the owner of the biggest guild, and he requested in his guild, that he needed this item as the first person to own it, and therefore, it functioned as a kings sceptre. Or like a useless golden ball in the hand, to show off power through a useless object. so the first people on any server to get the first legendary item, was at some point celebrated for months".
"But yeah, I have nothing to show for except skills in PVP (player vs player).
-well except for my mount! I have a Triceratops to ride on, and that has a personal value to me. At the reason to that is its the first thing I have ever stolen, by tricking my good friend Simon /Stormbro into getting. Normally he would get the items since he god the second highest roll and just seeing the reaction after I won it over 99 other people, it was just enormous fun to mock him with afterwards since its soul bound" (38:30).
"I don't think I would love to portray slamdunk in my everyday life, but I like to have the horde symbol on me, to show off my fondness of the culture" (44.45).
Alternative life
Morten doesn't find the character to be a better version of himself, but he does find it od why he is drawn towards bigger avatars, and wonder if that could be rooted in him being pretty small as a child.
"-or is it just becurse I like 2 handed big maces? yeah, it probably just that!"
Morten wanted to be a protector in-game as a child, and are a carry IRL now a psychologist as his profession. But explains what he finds relevant to understand. that as a psychologist it depends on whether you are good at teaching, in this case, life skills and mindsets. Whereas a Tank it's more about strategy and keeping calm in the stressful scenario of a battle scene (40:00). Gaming is overall a place where he can prove himself, either by growing his skill knowledge or showing off. After some consideration, he shared, that he maybe should consider playing som healer, is his personal traits and core identity should be portrayed more precisely in an avatar even though he has played any character possible IG. If possible he cold easily imagen both dressing up as slamdunkz, or be gaming more with some of all the VR possibilities out there. And lastly, Morten has never Deleted a character that has been played on for more than the 40 LV. he deleted a low LV. once but had to re-evaluate for 10 min. before hitten the delete button, and only becurse of the lack of space on the guild.
"Every time you create a character, you put a little bit of your soul into that avatar" (52:00).
- especially when you have to create a name, that others have to perceive you by, that can take up some time to get perfect. My newest name (ImTheGentleGiant) seams perfect and aligned with both my personality and overall identity and easily show some of my values to others!" This left me as an interviewer wit one last question. "what would you do if you had to delete slamdunkz?" and Morten answered, that he would certainly miss it, and as of this moment, the character is a part of the home screen background, on his computer, and he looks at it every day.
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