I’m
Bringin’ Sexy Back

By Shayalyn





The Druid babe of
the forest stands silhouetted against the sun as it creeps up over the
horizon. She knows she’s looking fine in her fancy and
seriously uber armor. She stands with her chest thrust proudly forward.
Her eyes, an unearthly shade of green, twinkle. Her auburn hair spills
over her well-muscled shoulders. Her body is toned and sleek from the
strenuous physical requirements of combat, not to mention running like
the wind across the fantastical landscape of Telon.



Well, maybe the out-thrust chest has more to do with boob sliders than
pride. And perhaps that athletic physique has less to do with physical
activity and more to do with character customization tools...but I can
dream, can’t I? In a perfect world, every consumed slice of
French silk pie (with whipped cream and chocolate curls, natch!) would
disappear with a simple click and drag of the waist slider. Thunder
thighs would be a thing of the past. We wouldn't have to see ads for
products that claim to help us "lose stubborn belly fat."



I’m not terribly vain in the real world, but when it comes to
MMOGs I have every intention of ditching reality for an avatar
that’s drop dead sexy. This is my fantasy world to play in,
damnit, and if I’m going to die hundreds of times and litter
the landscape with my corpses I at least want them to look good. Live
fast, die young, leave a good lookin’
corpse--that’s my motto, although I think James Dean said it
first, and I also think I paraphrased him a bit. At any rate, my
characters in Vanguard are hardcore hotties.



alt="Scary Burger King!"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/article-illustrations/burgerking_150.thumb.jpg"
hspace="4" vspace="2">There’s another,
albeit smaller, camp of MMOG players who are on the opposite end of
the spectrum. Instead of making characters that are physically
appealing, they choose to make characters that are peculiar or stand
out in some way. Or they choose to play races that aren’t
typically considered sexy. My assistant here at Vanguard Ten Ton Hammer
is one such person. For starters, Zinn’s character is a
not-so-studly gnome. He’s also a complete oddball. For one,
he’s about as gigantic as a gnome can get. His head is
enormous. His facial features are caricature. In fact, he looks for all
the world like that freakish plastic Burger King who shows up in
commercials for the have-it-your-way fast food chain. After a night
grouped with him I have visions of his character poking its head in my
window at dawn and handing me a breakfast croissant. It’s
scary, I tell ya!



Personally, I lack the self-confidence to play a scary looking
character, much less one which looks like the Burger King. I think it
takes a certain kind of person to eschew an attractive physical
appearance and go for different, bizarre, or I-could-care-less. I
wouldn’t mind creating a lesser giant who looks like
she’s eaten one too many jelly donuts...but I can't seem
to get past the notion that if I can’t href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=article-illustrations&id=tomb_raider_angelina_joliejpg&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 142px; float: right;"
alt="Angelina as Lara Croft"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/article-illustrations/tomb_raider_angelina_joliejpg.thumb.jpg"
hspace="4" vspace="2"> look like all those
magazine cover girls in this world, then I can at least enjoy looking
like one in my gaming life. I’m pretty sure a lot of people
agree with me--the movie version of video game darling Lara Croft from
the Tomb Raider series wasn’t played by Angelina Jolie for
nothing, you know.



How do you feel about your character’s appearance in a MMOG?
Are you one of those people like me who wants to have a drool-worthy
avatar, or are you more like Zinn, who doesn’t mind, and in
fact maybe even embraces, being a little weird looking? Tell us about
it in our poll!




style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(160, 184, 216); width: 90%;"
border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="2">

VOTE IN OUR POLL!



What’s
your preference when it comes to your character’s physical
appearance?

  • I make my character gorgeous! I want to be as
    attractive as possible.
  • I like my character to be generally attractive, but I
    also like to have some distinguishing features (a scar, etc.).
  • I’ll choose a race that’s not
    classically sexy (like gnomes or halflings), but I make my character
    attractive for its race.
  • I intentionally go for the ugly races. Bring on the
    goblins and orcs!
  • My characters are always off the wall. I try to make
    them look different; even ugly.
  • I don’t pay much attention to my
    character’s look--it’s all about gameplay.
  • Other
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83">VOTE
HERE





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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

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