The Gaming Persona

Gaming Identities & Character Creation

• Daniel Kaufmann Ph.D. | Dr. Gameology • Season 5 • Episode 24

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We explore the fascinating psychology behind who we become when playing games, from character creation choices to gameplay styles and completionist tendencies.

• Character creation preferences vary significantly between players – some create mirror images of themselves while others prefer to play as characters completely different from their real selves
• Dr. Gamology explains his preference for female characters with pink hair across multiple games
• Gaming researcher Nick Yee's work suggests game characters are designed primarily for the male gaze
• The Motivation for Playing Online Games questionnaire reveals different player types based on achievement, socialization, and immersion preferences
• Completionist gamers (who must find everything) and story-focused gamers (who primarily follow main quests) experience the same games in entirely different ways
• Elden Ring serves as a case study for how different play styles can lead to vastly different experiences in the same game
• Game preferences often reflect broader personality traits and entertainment preferences
• The Witcher 3 gets recommended as an excellent but potentially overwhelming story-driven experience

Join us on Twitch to see Dr. Gamology's completionist runs and connect with our community!


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Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Gaming Persona podcast. This is the show that explores who we become when we play games, whether you're saving kingdoms, leading epic raids or just vibing in cozy indie worlds. Join me, dr Gamology and my good friend Marcus as we search for all the ways gaming and personal growth collide. Grab your controllers and let's continue the journey Now. Continue the journey now. So I returned to Final Fantasy 14 this week. Oh yeah, I did, yeah, and I didn't even play a Lobey character. I played an endgame character that has not logged in in so long that I have to reclaim my end game status by completing story.

Speaker 2:

Oh my, goodness, no bunny tank, then huh.

Speaker 1:

No, nobody tank. I was my pink haired girl, because everybody knows that when I play MMOs I have to be a cutesy pink haired girl. That's my thing, actually. Even when I play Elden Ring girl, that's my thing actually. Even when I play elden ring I'm well, it's ellen ring, so you're not really cutesy.

Speaker 2:

But you're still a pink haired girl, right, marcus. Wait, what are you when you play?

Speaker 1:

elden ring. He's a giant hat.

Speaker 3:

Giant hat, yeah I'm kung lao, kung lao, oh my gosh are you saying what's on?

Speaker 1:

like okay, that's yeah, what's under the?

Speaker 3:

hat me oh so like bearded man he looks like you, like, yeah, like I.

Speaker 3:

For me, I like. Well, this is a great topic. So character customization for me. I don't want to pretend I'm a female Like I want to be me in the story. I love that. You know what I mean. Okay, so when I'm playing Elden Ring or Mass Effect, any of the games I should say any of the games I can customize my character. I want to have it look like me, my first character, because I feel like me running around. It makes me more immersed into the game. Now, if you get like in an mmo, when I create multiple characters, that's when I branch out, but I usually branch out to like. I'll'll make one my daughter, one my wife, one my son, one my dog, one my you know what I mean other dog, and obviously they're humans, but I'll name them after my dog like animals.

Speaker 1:

Okay, because the most game that I've ever played with you, you were named after your daughter. I'm assuming that character was female, right?

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

But that's not the first character I ever created. Always, the first character is a mirror of me.

Speaker 1:

What do you do in this area? Doritos.

Speaker 2:

It depends on my mood. I know, when I started, my first character I ever created in Sotor was a male Mary Allen Didn't look anything like me, but I do give it character traits similar to me IRL. Then see that one. I got to a stagnant point, actually, when the game started. I ended up hopping to like four different servers before I found one that did not have a login weight and created a female sniper and that became my main through well, even through today sniper, and that became my main through well, even just even through today. So I'll play both sexes. I'm not picky. I try to create typically a male first with some character traits similar to me, but, yeah, also some of. If I had the ability to, you know, dye my hair, change my, you know, get tattoos, stuff like that that I would love to do but don't do. That's what I try to build a character as.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I usually do stick with human, ever since I played Star Wars, the Old Republic, where I did create myself if I was a Sith, and that character is the one that I've played for more than 365 days of my life. But I have lots of alts on that account too, and most of them are female, and I kind of recreate those characters in all the other games that I play. Like the names are the same. Everything is a callback to what I did in SWTOR Mm-hmm. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 1:

No go ahead, Marcus. What do you got?

Speaker 3:

But why? The real question for me that I don't understand is why do you create a female? Is it because it's going to sound really funny but let me work through this with my head out loud but is it because you imagine yourself being with this female? Is it you enjoy hearing the female voice of the character? Is it that you like staring at a girl's butt while you're running through the world like, what is the motivation for you to create a pink haired female?

Speaker 1:

Listen, the dramatic extrovert outfit looks much better on females than it does on males.

Speaker 3:

Well, it does.

Speaker 2:

OK, but so it's all of the above I mean. So this was what a topic way back when you started your podcast.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, my mentor in research who created the motivation for playing online games questionnaire, nick Yee, we talked about this and I will share my own perspective after I summarize what he said. Basically, game developers create video game characters for the male gaze primarily. That was the premise of what he said. So males are designed so that when a male player looks at them, they see the things that stereotypically they want to see in dominant, effective male characters and female characters the same when a male player looks at them. They're designed to have the traits and features that will appeal to a male player as a dominant, competent, effective combat character.

Speaker 1:

But the outfits look better on them. The emotions come through better in the female characters. In my opinion, cooler outfits, you know, like I don't enjoy, like camo gear, armor sets. I don't want to look like a stormtrooper and and I just think that the outfits whether it's the Old Republic or Baldur's Gate or Elden Ring or Final Fantasy 14, I just like the way the female characters look. That could be as a male game player.

Speaker 1:

As a man, I maybe do appreciate looking at a female character more if I'm staring hours at a screen, but it's not exactly a sexual thing. It's more about when I made my first character in Final Fantasy 14, it was a male character and it didn't feel like I was a compelling hero and I actually quit playing the game for months and had no MMO that I was playing because I had quit playing SWTOR but I hadn't continued Final Fantasy XIV after leveling up to about level 15. When I create a female character pink haired girl, happy black mage loving life I wanted to play every day I can't explain it. I mean I can use research to explain what it is we're aiming for when we do create our characters. My Solitor character was my letters of my name shuffled just a little bit to create that Star Wars persona and that character did not belong in Final Fantasy XIV.

Speaker 3:

Do you prefer a movie with a female lead over a male lead?

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like Hunger Games, I enjoy a lot more than everdeen, that's right. Remember who the real enemy is, marcus yeah yeah, I mean.

Speaker 1:

I say that phrase, by the way, to my students all the time, whenever I'm like interpreting a policy for my class in a way that benefits them, instead of using a rule to penalize them, and like being the corporate guy, like I want to be the people's champion, not the corporate champion, you know. Going back to the rock, right like yes, yes, I love, I love the hunger games book so much I haven't read this one yet.

Speaker 3:

My wife got it for me. I think it's a prequel.

Speaker 1:

It's a prequel. There's a movie for it too.

Speaker 3:

Oh, okay, so I'll let you know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, very good. Yeah, I do tend to like female protagonists more than males, but that doesn't mean that a male protagonist is going to turn me off to the movie. But I really enjoyed the Fantastic Four movie that just came out because I thought Sue Storm was amazing.

Speaker 3:

Sure, I guess for me it's, I guess, my question. I'm just trying to connect the dots Right.

Speaker 1:

When you the docs right.

Speaker 3:

So do you prefer ray over luke skywalker?

Speaker 1:

anakin skywalker is star wars it's not my you're.

Speaker 3:

That's not the question I said. Do you prefer Rey, because she's the main role, versus Luke?

Speaker 1:

I prefer stories that are consistent within themselves and are not founded on errored logic. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Well, that's really interesting because for me, I feel like I'm the opposite. I prefer a male main character because maybe and maybe that takes me back to my character creation, where I'm creating myself when you're watching a movie and the male is the main character.

Speaker 1:

I'm picturing myself as that in some way or not you know, you said a key word a couple of minutes ago when you were explaining what you're aiming for. You said immersion. Yeah, and going back to gaming profile stuff, back at the beginning of our friendship, I gave you the motivation for playing online games questionnaire, because that's what I do to my friends and wait, has doritos done it yet? Nope, oh you haven't never have the only.

Speaker 2:

Thing I've ever done that I shared was my myers-briggs type that was the gamer. I don't know, I've never taken the gamer one. Oh, you should.

Speaker 1:

I'll give it to you and we'll talk about our like, we'll redo our results and we can do that for a future episode. That could be great fun. You should send it to me again because I can do it. Yeah, my immersion scores are very low, though that's not a primary motivation category for me. Immersion is basically role playing, discovery and exploration. Customization and escape, right like. Those are not high for me. I'm very much an achievement kind of person. I'm. I'm a mechanics and mastery person and I'm a socialization person and teamwork person.

Speaker 1:

So when I create a character, I'm just trying to create a character that feels like it should be the hero of this story, because if I can make the story more powerful for me, then I'm going to have more ideas about things I can write in the psychology and the hero's journey and the mythology connections, like when I'm running around in Claire Obscure, expedition 33,. You can choose which of the five characters is your runaround character. I always pick Lunae because she flies and that's freaking cool and I just think that she has the best style, she has the best look for running around that world. But I could run around his verse so if I wanted to, I just don't choose to.

Speaker 3:

Does it matter? Doritos, just to follow up on my question to doc do you prefer a male or a female lead in a movie, or does?

Speaker 2:

it not matter? It doesn't matter for me I in a movie, or does it not matter? It doesn't matter for me I? I want a lead that is integral to relatable, I guess would be the best way to put it, whether it's it's a male or a female, it it matters not to me. It's a male or a female, it matters, not to me.

Speaker 3:

Okay, okay, I definitely think you know I'm remembering my character, the gamers thing that I did and mine was, like almost all socialization, no-transcript achievements.

Speaker 1:

My achievement is hanging out with my friends but all you play now is elden ring and you make us watch you on discord, where we have to cheer you on, be your audience okay.

Speaker 3:

So a friend of mine asked me about playing a game and I said I would love to play that game but I don't have 100 hours to play it. And he goes. But you play Elden Ring and that takes hundreds of hours to play. And I said but I'm continuing to play that game because I can play that game for 10 minutes or seven hours. For 10 minutes or seven hours because if I have 10 minutes to sit down I can turn it on, go grind something, go kind of travel around and search for something and then just shut it off, say like go to a grace and shut it off where. I would love to go back and play the mass effect trilogy like I wish I had the time to do it, but I don't and that's why I'm mood right, well, no, it's not a mood.

Speaker 3:

It's that, it's a hundred hours of gameplay. It's a mood for you.

Speaker 1:

Sorry, Marcus.

Speaker 3:

What do you mean? It is? You don't. You would much rather, and I understand If you can't get into a game. You can't get into a game, but you are. You're like the lock-in gamer Once you find a game you love, you overplay it and play it, and play it, and play it, and play it, and play it until, like, you can't possibly play it anymore do you call that overplaying, or is that more completionist mindset, because you're trying to go through? He's already completed the game, though.

Speaker 2:

No, no, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're a completionist. That means you have completed the story. There are so many other items to find, to check off. If you go on Steam or anything else, even the Slow Tour, there is a laundry list of things to find, even hidden achievements to go get to keep playing the game. To unlock, to do mundane and sometimes weird things to unlock those items.

Speaker 1:

Marcus, I had a thought in the shower today. You know shower thoughts.

Speaker 3:

Was I in it and was I wearing clothes?

Speaker 1:

You were definitely wearing clothes, but it was all about you and it's because I was getting ready to stream after my shower, right, because I stream in the morning and, like everyone, you can know all this about me, I don't care. But the thing that would really help you to understand me and would end a lot of the confusion that we've had on this podcast the last six weeks or so is if I started putting completionist run in the title of my stream. Everyone, including you, would understand what I'm doing and why I'm still playing Claire Obscure, expedition 33. Doritos nailed it. It's not about completing the story, it's about looking at that game and saying I know everything about this game now and we talked about this on Twitch this morning actually is like I went after the stream.

Speaker 1:

I found a YouTube video that was all seven hours of cut scenes for this game and I downloaded it onto my external hard drive so I have that footage and I can just play it while I'm grading papers, while I'm doing all this work stuff.

Speaker 1:

I want to absorb everything about this world, because this world is a critical piece of some of the work stuff I'm going to do in the future for gamers and things that launch out of the gamer's journey kind of stuff, things that launch out of the gamer's journey kind of stuff. It's that meaningful to me and I have to. I feel like it's a calling. I have to understand everything about this game. And I do get that feeling about other things like Final Fantasy VII, bioshock, resident Evil, devil May Cry, like Last of Us, elden Ring, you know, like once a game hits me like that and I can envision my work life intertwining with it. I want to know everything, just like I did my entire childhood and early adulthood with Star Wars before Star Wars had too much in it to know everything anymore so I know and, and I know that and it comes off as if I don't understand it because I do.

Speaker 3:

It's more of a trigger thing, like I'm stirring the pot. But for me I look at it as I'm trying to find the right words. I'm not that way, so it's hard for me to understand that way. That's not what you're doing, isn't wrong?

Speaker 1:

Right, right, like it's different than you. It's like a personality type difference, right.

Speaker 3:

I'll use Doritos in myself. We both played Elden Ring. Well, I would say I played it a lot longer because I quit that game many times, but we beat the game. I would say Doritos within a month of each other right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, give or take.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, give or take. But the difference was Doritos did everything you possibly could and when you look at my inventory and I'm scrolling through my inventory, there's a lot missing. And I'm scrolling through my inventory there's a lot missing Because I didn't care to go find the deep, dark corner, fog rift catacomb, because I hate the fucking catacombs.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean.

Speaker 3:

Like I, despise the catacombs.

Speaker 2:

Just like dragons.

Speaker 3:

Right, I hate dragons.

Speaker 1:

I love dragons. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3:

Well, I love dragons, like the concept, because I'm listening to this book on audible called fourth wing or something like that. I don't know it's so good. Oh my gosh, you started fourth wing. Oh, I'm like three quarters deep in it, right, I started the third book this week.

Speaker 1:

All right, we're besties now?

Speaker 3:

well, we've been for a long time, but I know what are, what are these books?

Speaker 1:

yeah, um violet soaring gale, yeah, violence yes I love it.

Speaker 3:

So anyway, my, she reminds me a lot of katniss everdeen, but anyway, if she was in game of thrones or something, yeah yeah I get.

Speaker 1:

I get a lot of that vibe for that world too. I love it so much. I I'm so glad I have a kindle. It's, by the way, something cool happened on the stream this week. Someone was asking about some book I wrote called the gamer's journey. You wrote a book never heard, I did.

Speaker 3:

Did you win an award?

Speaker 1:

I did. I won, I won an award and they asked how they could get it and I said like you could buy it at my shop. And then, just randomly, I said something on my stream I've never thought to say before. I was like, actually you can get it right now on kindle unlimited or audible if you have one of those. And the people in the chat were like, oh my gosh, I just added it on kindle unlimited. That's how I read all my books.

Speaker 2:

I was like yes, another thing.

Speaker 1:

So everyone, you can just go get my book on Kindle Unlimited if you're already subscribed to that, and that's freaking awesome because I wrote the book so people can have the ideas. Actually, my class I taught tonight. I taught them all about growth mindset using two of the graphics from my book and they were just like it clicked, like they realized that their professor is tfg let's see.

Speaker 2:

Well, I actually have a. I have both a hard copy and I did. I went and got on audible because I listened to audiobooks on my commute to work in the mornings yeah, but I'm gonna circle back to doritos and I.

Speaker 3:

So we played this game and we would bounce off of each other like, hey, I'm in lindell, oh, I just beat lindell and he's like, oh, I'm just getting there, and we kind of did the story together.

Speaker 2:

But in the end he would mention some the two crucible knight fight the oh yeah that the catacomb with the two crucible knights at the end yes yeah I don't.

Speaker 3:

That is before you go into.

Speaker 2:

I can see it in the map in my mind.

Speaker 3:

So the north side of Lindell yeah, so I probably can't go there now.

Speaker 2:

Before you fight the Draconic tree sentinel, it's down below it.

Speaker 3:

Oh see, but now that I've destroyed, the tree is on fire. I don't know if I should look into it. But my point is, excuse me, him and I were talking Doritos and I were talking one night and he's like I can't, I, this is so frustrating and I was like what the heck? So frustrating, he's like these two crucible nights and I said you're fighting two crucible nights at once, why would you even do that go?

Speaker 3:

the other way and he's like no, it's a boss fight and I'm progging it and and I never experienced that. I never experienced that because I'm not a completionist. Now, I didn't just go from point a to point B to beat the game. I did a lot of exploration but I didn't do all of the exploration. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1:

See a random boss fight and be like oh, it's insulting to me that I can't kill this thing.

Speaker 3:

Right, like in Shadow of the Earth Tree, there's the first dragon that you find in a Guess what, in a pond, you know what I mean. There's a dragon and I got killed twice by it and I was like, ah, fuck this guy, I'm not going back, like I could care less about this dragon. You know what I mean. But then I go to the boss, fight the first boss, which was, I don't know, would you call that like a dancing lion or something?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the China, the China, the Chinese dragon.

Speaker 3:

Oh, the Chinese dragon. You're right, cause you guys actually were with me and I went in and you guys are like you're not going to summon, and I said, no, I'm going to beat this boss. And I died the first time because I was figuring out, but I beat it the second try without any help.

Speaker 1:

but that's what I enjoy yeah but you two, you summons because it is in the game to help you beat the game yeah, like if I have to kill every boss in the game, I want to kill every boss as fast as possible, so instead of spending a thousand hours, I only spend 925 right, right, no, in in.

Speaker 3:

In that I guess I'm adding to what this is, kind of making the point of your clear obscure thing and me busting your butt about. It is doritos and I played the same game at the same time, but we played it two completely different ways.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's why video games are a personality test and that's why my career happened. Oh my gosh, everybody. Big announcement. If you watch me on Twitch, you already know, but you're listening to the Gaming Persona, so we got to add this in. If you watch me on Twitch, you already know, but you're listening to the Gaming Persona, so we got to add this in. Marcus, do you know what happened two days ago?

Speaker 3:

You probably told me and I probably heard it and I probably freaked out, but I completely forgot, so go.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, I was offered the editor position for the process addiction textbook from the american society of addiction medicine, which that is like the bible of, like how insurances decide whether they're going to approve or deny placing someone at different levels of care for addiction treatment, and I'm the editor of the textbook, meaning my name is going to be on the cover of the textbook with whoever the other editor is. It's going to be like I don't know if I'll be first or second, but I'm going to be on the cover of, like the psychiatry addiction textbook for gambling, video games, sex and pornography, exercise, work, food, eating you know all the things that can be addictions but are not substance-based it's pretty rad food is so substance-based well, it's not like cocaine or opiates, no, it's not like lasagna, it's not illicit substances.

Speaker 2:

so you're gonna help mentor Garfield Got it.

Speaker 3:

You know, I know you guys can't see the podcast and you're listening, but all I can think about right now is so Doritos office in his new home is green. Okay, hunter green. Yeah, hunter green, and he has a green shirt on, and all I'm thinking is if he was streaming and he clicked the green screen button, all you see is a floating head. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Floating head with headphones on yeah.

Speaker 3:

That's all you could see that and the microphone. I know that's a random thought, but that's all I've been thinking about this entire podcast.

Speaker 1:

Nice.

Speaker 3:

Anyway.

Speaker 2:

This shirt was part of a Halloween costume. We did Scooby-Doo a couple years ago when the kids were little and I was Shaggy.

Speaker 1:

I was Shaggy once too. Have you ever been Shaggy, Marcus? No Fail.

Speaker 3:

We're on the verge of greatness. Let's see, since my kids have been alive, I've been Mario a minion.

Speaker 2:

I've been Luigi Buzz Lightyear, mr Incredible a hockey player, the sticks to get with the hot pants.

Speaker 3:

And this year, me and my son are going, as we're going to be a tag team. I want to be the Street Profits, but he does not.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, they ruined the Street Profits, but I don't. He does not. Boom, boom, boom, ba-dum, boom boom. Oh my gosh, they ruined the Street Profits entrance and I will not entertain anyone else's opinion about that. They had one of the best entrances in WWE.

Speaker 3:

Yes, they did and it's gone. You know why? They lost the rights to the music. Well, when you have money, you need to suck less yeah, and one more side note I'm going to smackdown tomorrow night, so you know, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, anyway, doritos, what games have you played this week?

Speaker 2:

I have been sticking with my, my usuals. I've got sotor and ori. I was able to unstuck myself from the spot I was in in ori, so I've got that, continuing on with that save file. So again, chillax game. Haven't been able to play it a lot just because since we homeschool our kids, it's been a lot of having to deal with some administrative concerns. A lot of it's laptop issues, program issues, getting things set up so the kids can have their classes.

Speaker 1:

Sure, what are you playing Marcus, sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 3:

No, completely fine. Do you have your next story game in mind, doritos not right now.

Speaker 2:

Okay, let me do witcher 3. I've got it. I've got batman arkham. Kind of want to play it have you done arkham before any?

Speaker 1:

of them oh my gosh, those are so good. Have you done the witcher before? Nope, wow, did you know I wrote a chapter in the psychology of the witcher never heard of it.

Speaker 2:

Yes, oh my god thank you, doritos.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, oh my god, thank you but we're getting.

Speaker 1:

We're getting to the point where I know I'm a meme of myself oh, you are a meme, you. I just I just really enjoy video games, and there was a point in time where I never even imagined I'd be in the situations I'm in right now. So so witcher 3 is so good.

Speaker 3:

And I agree with you about your excitement for video games. They just announced a symphony tour for Elden Ring.

Speaker 1:

Oh wow, Elden. Ring has amazing music.

Speaker 3:

Right. So I went to the Final Fantasy VII Remake Symphony and that was unbelievable. I've been to the Star Wars Empire Strikes Back Symphony and that was unbelievable. I've been to the star wars empire strikes back symphony and that was incredible. If they do elden ring, I am there, yeah, you know. But what I was going to say to you, doritos, is I just remembered nick playing the witch Witcher and oh my God, that is, your life is completely over. If you play the Witcher, it's and I don't mean it like like no, it's Elden ring and steroids, not like I'm saying the length of the game and the side quests. And you know, I remember Nick walked 15 feet and he had 30 side quests and he had no idea what to do because every single npc is a side quest I focused just on the story and had a very different experience I had

Speaker 3:

not completion that game at all well, he, he figured that out, but in that first few hours he just talked to everybody and he was lost and I think he did restart it, if I remember correctly.

Speaker 1:

It buries you in too many things to do, Right? You know it's like if you went to college but you tried to major in everything. It's not possible. This is why people only choose one major, and my major in the Witcher was the main story and Yennefer.

Speaker 2:

I majored in Yennefer Chris Chris Marigold.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, triss yeah.

Speaker 1:

Triss is the one. No, it's Yennefer.

Speaker 2:

Yennefer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's no way you can choose anything else, and if you do, then I'm just going to tell you continue the journey.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Daniel Kaufmann

Host
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Doritos

Co-host
Head Shot

MarcusB814

Co-host