Play time: 3:30- 5:00pm

As I am becoming more comfortable with the basic operating commands in WoW, I am trying to pay attention to the many variations of the fantasy world that exists around my avatar. Sometimes, that’s easier said than done. Especially as I move forward in levels and have to face creatures that will attack me without provocation. But while I was completing quests today, I noticed that I was working on the same quests as a few other players.

The players around me in the past play sessions have just run past me without much thought. Today, as I was completing a couple of quests, I was working simultaneously with another player (with whom I had no interaction) to kill the same creature. And both times I noticed this other player, the avatar was a female magic wielding character. I started to question if, as a female player, I had chosen the right avatar. Yes, my avatar is a female hunter, which according to Nick Yee’s analysis in the Daedalus Project is not an uncommon avatar for female players. But does that match the demographics of the avatars of female players with the current server I am playing on? Am I questioning my avatar’s race and gender to avoid questioning my skill set as a player?

As I was contemplating this, my avatar went into idle mode. She started moving a little from side to side. And I noticed that her head tilted to one side, which happened to the opposite side of the hip jutting out while she rested. Where do I know that stance from? Then it hit me! Sidewalk LED screens (sadly, no picture, but they can be seen in the MassAve arts and culture district downtown). There are a few of these screens in downtown Indianapolis that my sister and I would make fun of because we realized that that can’t be the way a ‘stereotypical’ woman stands at a sidewalk. Could that really be the only feminine feature of my avatar that I can distinguish?