Some Thoughts on Avatars...

I seem to have started a KOTOR fic. This should be a lesson to me that ideas rattling around in my brain are Muse bait of the first order. In the books, I know that Revan is male, though the KOTOR games allow for different customizations of the character and his/her ultimate fate. If we assume that the games are part of the series canon, they’re already allowing players a sort of shape your own canon play.

Anyway, I digress.

Although I write slash (though not exclusively) fic and am quite content to RP male characters in that sort of fannish environment, when I’m playing scripted games that allow a player the ability to customize the gender of an avatar, I always choose a female avatar. Well, almost always. I might play a male character if there are story arcs the female character doesn’t have access to. Otherwise, I’m going to slip inside a girl-skin.

I’ve been thinking a little about why that might be so. Is it because if I’m RPing with other fen, we’re playing in a different way than I am when I’m video gaming? Does it have something to do with the medium: RPing in chat or all text versus in an environment that is more visual? Does the community and shared beliefs/practices in fandom mean RP personae manifest differently than in a single-player game?

I don’t have any answers to those questions right now. Just collecting them all for later ponderings and to see if y’all have any thoughts about them.

Waffles and...Peanut Butter?

I’ve been visiting the dietician at work as a part of my “Get Healthier in 2012” agenda. Note: Like the posting each day, not a resolution. One of the things we’ve been haggling over is breakfast. She wants me to eat cereal. I tell her that I can consume several servings of cereal at a pop and be hungry again like an hour later. We go through several other suggestions that are equally unappealing until she suggests multi-grain low-fat waffles with peanut butter for a good mix of fiber and protein.

I am suspicious. This sounds totally cracktastic and very possibly, bad tasting. However, yesterday I decided to get a box and have a trail run, and I have to confess, the combination isn’t half bad.

Who knew?