There is a boy who lives in my mod, but rarely leaves his room. Occasionally I'll go into his room to talk to him and be friendly. He's always playing a video game on his computer. In the game before you can even start playing you must make a profile for yourself. In this profile you can make your character anything you want it to be. You choose the hair color, eye color, body build, name, and description of personality. His character in the game is a buff, great looking guy. In real life, he's a tall and skinny kid who is very quiet. I came to the conclusion that he stays in his room all the time to play this game because he likes who he is in the game. He likes the person that he has created better than he likes himself. So, to escape the trials of real life he pretends he is someone else in a game world. This relates to the looking glass self because he likes how he is seen better by his online opponents then people in his real life. I believe that girls do this too, but more in their heads. Girls will always wish something about themselves was different and maybe even try to pretend that it is.
-Carly
I think that its sad that people feel this way because of how others see them. Girls do this all the time by making themselves someone they aren't by getting surgery or putting lots of make up on. People shouldn't have to be afraid of how others view them, they should be happy to look how they look.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to what he is doing. When I was younger I would always play with barbies. Barbies are like the younger generations version of how models make older girls feel about themselves. As harmless as a doll is, even as a child you think about how you wish you looked like her or would look like her once you grew up. I would constantly dress her up in the cutest clothes and wish it was me. I would create her life and the life I wish I could live one day. I would make sure she had the best cars and clothes and a big house with a handsome husband and a dog. Obviously it wasn't realistic, but I couldn't help but wish it was. Sometimes its hard to accept how people look at you, but its more important how you look at yourself. With that said, sometimes it is also hard to look at yourself in a positive way if others do not. It's one of the feats in life that you have to get through and come to peace with yourself and the life you are living because only so much can be changed.
ReplyDeleteTo think that someone acts differently then they do in real life is pretty sad. Hiding from the real world and not showing your true colors can affect how a person lives their day to day life. If this boy had the confidence to socialize like he obviously does in his videogames, then people would be able to see what kind of boy he really is. The looking glass self is represented through this in the way that people really see and interpret someone. Hiding and never showing who you really are is keeping yourself from living a true life. as Carly said, people do try to pretend to be something they're not. Girls and boys do it. Boys have social influences from other boys and girls have social and media influences. It all depends on the person and how they choose to let the world see themselves.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a best (male) friend that was obsessed with World of Warcraft. He would stay up all night, sleep the minimum amount of hours needed, bought all new computer equipment, basically went all-out to have the best game experience possible. He did whatever he had to do to get the best, top character and would speak over his microphone to followers. He was their leader and made the biggest decisions. In real life, he was not this character at all. He was a nocturnal hermit living in his room playing video games. After a few years of this gaming obsessions he finally started realizing how other people saw him and started changing his habits. He cleaned himself up and became social. He resembles his character in the game more now than he did when he was playing the game. Everyone from my hometown loves him and follows him on Twitter and he's made a complete turn around. He basically created a false persona on World of Warcraft to cover up who he really is. Although girls do play video games, I think they make false personas in other ways maybe by taking on "girly" roles such as becoming a cheerleader or joining or sorority. This isn't always the case but I think for some girls it means being accepted and recognized by others inside and outside of the group. They might want people to see them in a different light so they find a way to do that. Once they know people recognize them in the light they want, they start to feel better about themselves which is a perfect example of the looking-glass self.
ReplyDeleteI think this boy is living through his video game character because that is how he wants to be in real life. Playing this game probably takes him away from what real life is, and takes him into another life. I have heard of people who have even committed suicide over loosing in a video game, warcraft. The boy probably hopes people will perceive him as this character in the video game. Im sure the character is unstoppable. But in reality, no human will look like this, or act in that manner and be able to conquerer anything they want. This is like the looking glass self because he wants people to see him as this video game character, and not as who he really is. He may even act like the character since he plays it so much.
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