Comments on: The Imitation of Life

By: Bayern_1867

Bayern_1867 — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 02:37:50 +0000

As a girl, I loved playing with paper dolls. I love the clothes, although most I wouldn’t wear in Real Life. Not all clothes look good on the same avatar. I change my avatars (usually female but sometimes male)to look good in the clothes. I tried creating an avatar that looked like me, but without success. Anyway, if you put weight on an avatar, the clothes wrinkle. Apparently the devs don’t know even overweight people can get clothes that fit properly. BTW, you don’t know me but I’m 75 reaching out for 76. My older daughter got me hooked on Home 3 yrs ago and I love having avatars who are fully mobile—and now, even riding!

By: CheekyGuy

CheekyGuy — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:02:03 +0000

I loved reading your article, so many points that you make (And valid also)
Myself, i am personally uncomfortable in my appearance in real life and would gladly change my shape, my hair to be a huge contrast to what i really look like.

Home has given people the freedom of being what they want to be and enjoying the fantasy of being in another body somewhat, even if its just for a few minutes, or a few hours. They get that chance to be the Hot chick, or the popular guy.

There are probably many people out there that feel really uncomfortable with themselves or even their appearance, and So home can act as a boost to their self Esteem. I’ve known many people that use virtual worlds for this purpose.
And it can help them on a variety of levels .

By: ted2112

ted2112 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:38:51 +0000

Remember in the movie the Matrix, they talked about residual self image. It was what you looked like in cyber-space, based on who you felt you were to yourself. Home is kind of like that I think, we make ourselves there based on who we feel we are rather than what we might happen to look like in this narrow slice of time. Great Read!

By: SealWyf_

SealWyf_ — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:25:01 +0000

Well, that’s what made it a Twilight Zone episode, isn’t it? Continued rebellion would have been less interesting storytelling. It’s also what made it realistic, psychologically speaking.

If we ever manage to get you onto the PSN, JJ, we shall have to find you a spectacular and appropriate avatar. There are no human-sized mice as yet, but we can probably create an excellent Victorian Gentleman, with or without tasteful steampunk accessories.

By: J J Markin

J J Markin — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:54:36 +0000

“Predictably, the point-of-view character chose to keep her own appearance, and suffered the consequences of non-conformity.”

Interesting that you should cite that Twilight Zone episode. As I remember it, in the end, the non-conformist succumbs to the pressure and is altered into one of the standard bodies, with a mind to match. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

By: SealWyf_

SealWyf_ — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:48:11 +0000

These things are complex, KrazyFace. As a Western woman, I find the Islamic dress code emotionally uncomfortable. But there is an ongoing controversy in France, where some girls are fighting for the right to wear the hijab in public schools. My own view is that people should be allowed and encouraged to dress as they wish, as long as their choices are not overly offensive. But offense, of course, is very much an individual judgement call, and difficult to legislate.

More information on the Islamic scarf controversy in France from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_scarf_controversy_in_France

By: Burbie52

Burbie52 — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:56:55 +0000

To tell the truth I doubt many people would make their avatars look exactly like themselves, that is why many use plastic surgery in real life. I might, and I have created as old an avatar as I can on occasion, but for a real purpose, not to run around in it.
It can be hard to recreate yourself in any case, there are too many variables involved. Home is all about fantasy and fun and being whatever you want to be. I have friends who never wear anything but costumes, some of which they made up from parts. Home is a place of escape from reality for many people for many reasons, and I think that can be a good thing, especially for those with physical handicaps of some sort. Nice read seal.

By: KrazyFace

KrazyFace — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:53:06 +0000

Yeeeah… I was laid into by what appeared to be Nazi extremists yesterday in EU Home. At first I found it funny that anyone could possibly think that they might actively hurt someone’s feelings by telling them their avatar has a big nose lol. But once the gas-chamber insults started and each new member of their group that joined in the “fun” (trolling me) would ‘heil’ the others, I realized they were actually offended by my avatar’s appearance.

I’d say my avatar is a fairly close approximation of my own likeness, yeah I got a nose on me lol, but the anti-Jew stuff was just such a shocking development! I’m not Jewish I must say, but what happened to them at the hands of the Nazis during the war makes my blood boil. Sorry, going off on a tangent again, lets leave that for a different discussion…

Appearance in Home is an odd thing for sure, and it’s generally always a case of being as extreme as possible, which I’m personally not a fan of. I mean hey, if you wanna ride around on a lion wearing a g-string go ahead, have fun.

I cant speak for every Muslim girl obviously (or indeed, for any of them!) but I’d imagine they’d rather throw off the clothes they’re TOLD to wear rather than embrace them, and that’s really the reasoning for such weird looking costumes in Home; you can get away with anything at any time.

As for the avatar customization options I completely agree with you, we need way more options and body forms. Even though I’m very happy with my own avi, I still think we need more options to better reflect our real humanities. After all, if like the Nazi scum I met we can be ugly on the inside, we should be able to reflect all our shortcomings on the outside too.

By: Kid Fleetfoot

Kid Fleetfoot — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:11:28 +0000

That’s a nice article with questions with no definitive answers… or maybe even no definitive opinions.

Once I looked at Home as a piece of fiction mixed in with reality or a movie. But a movie didn’t make any sense because where’s the fat people, the skinny people, the short people and the basketball players.There aren’t any, or many anyway.

I tried making an avatar that looked like me based on a picture of myself and having posted the picture some people said I did it. But other avatars of mine while somewhat representable of myself aren’t good enough to make a wanted poster. And others are completely made up such my my Disco Turkey outfit from the Thanksgiving Day reward in Central Plaza years back.

Home almost seems to strive for normalcy as in the mentioned # 12, I mean, like come on! Where’s fatty, baggy and skinny?

And yes, there should be Muslim head scarves. Or at least some that are similar. I think they’re pretty. I think we’ve got everything but them… or so it seems at times.

6+8=14 (that’s a test, right? If so, I’m passing so far.)