Dramaturgical Actions: How important is your “look”?

Is play performance? When we act and perform as in-game characters, visual appearance significantly affects social interactions both within and around the game. Our appearance has the potential to communicate power and intimidation, but more notably, character creation demonstrates the individual player’s personality and attitude toward other players. Whether we are intentionally communicating social status or just want to look cool and strong, I would argue that the community around appearance and performance can have more impact on social life than gameplay itself.

The “image” of our player-self is almost always malleable in multiplayer games. With a variety of cosmetic items and emote commands, the player is in control of their own performance. I know of some players in MMORPGs who still wear the starter clothing despite being highly skilled and max-level. By obscuring signs of rank, we “play better” because we don’t have the social pressure of other players’ judgement, they say. Using appearance to alter the perception of ourselves will always have an impact on how we perceive ourselves within the game, which might affect our attitude toward others. While appearance can’t definitively predict someone’s personality, a skilled player who dresses modestly is perceived as approachable and friendly, but a skilled player who flexes their expensive gear might be more intimidating and arrogant. The performance and appearance of our equipment communicates social status in both directions: inwardly toward perception of self and outwardly toward interactions with other players. With the unpredictable relationship between perception and performance, I want to ask: do players take themselves seriously when making their “ideal image”? How do different ideals for performance/appearance shape a community, and what does the trend of dominant attitudes tell us about player interactions?

In Stardew Valley, character creation options are unrelated to gameplay mechanics, but if my avatar is the only character with green skin and pink hair, I am immediately characterized by my humor and unpredictable actions. From another perspective, visual appearance can be made just for ourselves. The glowing purple aura around my longbow might not have any impact on gameplay, but it certainly does boost my confidence.

Strategically performance of false status can express a player’s creativity, resourcefulness, and frustrations. In DOTA 2, my friend "Skittles.vG" (Position 1, Vindictive Genesis(.vG) (Oceania)) enjoys deceiving other players with the Armlet of Mordiggian, an item that alters your stats and health. Toggling on/off this item will raise or lower a player’s health, enabling the possibility of performance as strategic deception. You can pretend to be low health/near death to lure other players into approaching you…but then… baited... you toggle the item back on and gain +500 health. These types of items encourage performance for the sake of survival, and players can take advantage of this appearance of being weak to create space between the enemies and your teammates. Deception and false performance reinforce the competitive aspect of a game by provoking the enemy players and expanding our overall knowledge of how the player can interact with the game’s items. Even dishonest actions are valuable with how they expand our network of communicative capabilities. We easily lose trust, become wary of other players, and begin to reflect on our own gameplay possibilities.