Friends List, In-game and IRL

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was introduced to Line Play by my guild leader, and we play along with several other guild members. It may seem rather insignificant, but when I started playing TERA Online about a year ago, I would have never anticipated this. “This” being the blurred division between my in-game friends list and people who I consider to be true friends.

When I first started playing TERA, I recall a guild member complaining that another player wasn’t online. “I’ll call him and ask him when he’s logging on,” he said casually. I asked if he they were IRL friends, assuming as such since he had the other person’s phone number. “No, we just play some games online together,” he answered. I thought that was really strange at the time. Why would you give a person your phone number just because you play together? Or share any contact information for that matter? Flash forward to the present: I have several of my guildies’ phone numbers, we’re Facebook friends, Skype contacts, etc. We text and chat regularly (about things that have nothing to do with TERA) and generally behave like regular friends who live far apart despite the fact that we’ve never met in person.

It was a gradual process as we became more familiar with one another, so taking a step back and considering how much has changed since I started playing TERA can be rather remarkable. I went from the mindset of “these are just people I play TERA with” to “these are my friends.” Not TERA friends. Not online friends. Just my friends.

Let’s Play Line Play

My Line Play house and avatar

This past week my guild leader introduced me to Line Play, a mobile phone app game. I was hooked instantly.

What is it? Take Twitter, a dress-up game, a house-decorating game, a basket of kittens, and some crystal meth, condense it into a black hole that will suck you in faster than you can fat-finger your touch screen and that’s Line Play.

…Alright, maybe I got a little carried away.

The game revolves around an avatar you create and the one-room house they live in. You purchase clothes, accessories, furniture, home decor, etc. with “gems,” the in-game currency. You earn gems by visiting other players’ houses where you water their plants, help them clean, and give “hearts” (similar to giving someone a “like” on Facebook). You keep a diary that records your avatar’s costume changes and can also be used in a manner like Twitter to share messages and photos.

Several members of my guild (including my husband) now play Line Play together when we’re not playing TERA (or sometimes simultaneously).

As I played, gears in my head began turning. Line Play, while it appears to be played by a decent number of males, has a primarily female player base (based on my observations anyway). How many of these female players play MMOs? I have no idea, but Line Play seems to be a very simple way to introduce more girls and women to MMOs, acting as the first stepping stone towards more complex games.

Throwing someone into a game like TERA without any previous gaming experience could be pretty overwhelming. One of my guild mates tried to get his wife to play, and she played for about 30 minutes before she quit. The learning curve was just too steep. There would obviously have to be more steps between Line Play and more complex games, but the interactive, social elements of the game make it a good “MMO Kindergarten” of sorts.

Be Awesome, Get Free Stuff

Make tumblr posts, acquire maid costumes

If you direct your attention to the blogroll, you may notice a link to And I Was Like Video Games. AIWLVG is one of many reaction gif tumblr blogs, but is notable for two reasons:

1. It focuses on experiences of TERA Online players
2. It was created and is run by yours truly.

WTF Did You Say to Me, NPC??

In TERA Online, when a player interacts with an NPC, the NPC will recite a canned statement unrelated to their text dialogue. Their statements (or questions) which appear to be determined by the NPC’s race and sex, are often humorous and occasionally poke fun at the player.

Some of my favorites:

“Your face looks strange…is it always like that?”

“I’m laughing with you…I mean at you.”

“I get distracted by mirrors. See why?” – Said by male Castanics, notable for their resemblance to douchey Jersey Shore cast members.

Some of the female NPC quotes are more flirtatious/suggestive, obviously appealing to the male audience of the game. The male characters don’t bother flirting.

“I’ve got a moment…for you.”

“You’re trouble! I like you.”

But one NPC quote caught me off guard the other day. It came from a male NPC:

“You know how women are…” (said with a scoff).

Jeeze, was that necessary? As a female player, little things like that just seem to be pointlessly alienating. Just a little something to think about.

Body Image and Sexualization in TERA

In recent years, visual media has received a lot of criticism for the sexualization, objectification, and unrealistic standards of beauty for women. We see it in movies, comics, advertisements, and of course, video games. Female characters, playable or not, are frequently dressed in impractical, skimpy “armor” that showcase their perfect. exaggerated womanly figures. This fact has been well-established. No one is really even bothering to deny it.

But what about the men? As is true for other forms of media, sexualization, objectification, and crazy standards of fitness of male characters in video games rarely receives the same kind of public outrage and attention. Why is that? I personally think it has a lot to do with a general double standard. Women’s bodies are seen as more “dangerous” and therefore should be covered. Men’s bodies are more neutral. Keep some tightie-whiteys on and everything’s peachy. As a result, it’s easy for the sexualization of men seem less shocking.

I’m not saying that men and women are sexualized to the same degree in video games, because that’s simply not the case. But men are also being affected by these representations. To illustrate, let’s take a look at some of the armors in TERA Online.

TERA Characters

I’ve written about my experiences with TERA a couple times now, but I have yet to introduce any of my characters or make a character list (which seems to be a staple of any blog revolving around an MMO). Might as well do that.

Who wants to play dress-up?!

Killer.Instinct put a lot of time into coordinating his character’s outfit

When I comes to TERA, I love to style my characters in cute outfits. Like a lot of girls, I can’t turn down a fun flash dress-up game when I see one, so you can imagine how much enjoyment I get out of seeing my characters interact with their virtual world in their adorable get-ups.

Initially, I figured this would be one of those “girl things” I wouldn’t have in common with a lot of male players. I assumed they’d be more concerned with getting the best stats on their armor rather than giving a thought to what it looks like. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Boys sure do like playing dress-up too.

In fact, I think the men I know might spend even more time dressing their characters than I do. My husband is intensely picky about his characters’ overall look. I recall one day where he spent at least half an hour choosing the perfect shade of green to dye his archer’s armor to match his Robin Hood hat.

I love to dress up my characters for the holidays

One difference I have noticed though is the influence of holidays on the dress-up game. For the most part, the women with whom I play seem to like dressing up characters for holidays like Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. The guys may put on a seasonal hat, but they’re less likely to base their entire outfit to match the theme. Sounds a little bit like real life, huh?

Endgame Bosses in TERA

The Argon Queen got me thinking about the gender breakdown of enemies

This past weekend my static and I finally beat Manaya’s Core (Hard Mode) in TERA, which is currently the most difficult instance in the game. After spending the last couple weeks facing down Manaya the Argon Queen (or “Manana” as my party likes to call her), I started wondering about the gender breakdown of endgame bosses and villains in TERA.

Tips for Introducing Women to MMOs (And Keeping Them There)

Want to achieve this? Follow the tips.

In my guild, there are plenty of couples that play TERA together,  but there are also a fair amount of men with romantic partners that don’t play. Their significant others’ range of emotions regarding MMOs range from indifference to loathing. However, most of them have never even tried to play the game or any MMO in general. So how do we get them in the game with us? Here’s some tips as a woman who was introduced to MMOs by her husband. 

The Word “Rape” in a Gaming Context

If there is one thing I’ve had difficulty making heads or tails of as a female gamer, it would definitely be the use of the word “rape” in a gaming context.

TERA was the first MMO in which I actively got engaged with the game’s community, which included being active on voice clients like Vent and Mumble as well as regularly participating in Player vs Player (PvP) content. Despite my relative lack of  first-hand experience with these areas, the first time I heard someone shout “I just got raped!” after being killed by another player, I was far from shocked. In fact, I had been actually been subconsciously been bracing myself for that moment.

I once heard a Dane Cook joke on the radio where he brings attention to the overuse of the word rape by gamers that I think sums the whole thing up pretty well (skip forward to about 40 seconds in the video below).