As I began to create my character the first thing that I noticed was that from the five species you are allotted to pick from, the only sex options available are male or female. The creators of this game did not think it was important to make it inclusionary to those who do not fit in this binary. Although I did not expect anything else, I still think it is important to note. The rather sad aspect of this is in some games you are not even given the option of choosing to be anything other than a male as that is the standard. The specie that I chose is a human female as that is what I identify with the most. My avatar is a mesmer, and I chose this is because I believe there is a bit of a mesmer in all of us. They are considered “maestros of mirage. They weave mental magic that confounds, controls, or evokes emotion in their enemies” (Guild Wars 2). I think to some extent most of us put up some sort of mirage for others. We are not always able to reveal our true selves for fear of rejection; this could be our sexual orientation or some other aspect of our identity.
Something that I noticed while making my avatar is that I was overwhelmed by the amount of options available. However, the options available were not that different from each other. I tried to make my avatar as close to what I look like in person with the options available. A option not available at all while creating your avatar is clothing. My avatar’s clothing is rather revealing and is not what I would have picked myself if given the choice. It is clear that the creators of this game decided to make certain sexualities the dominant narrative over others. The only accessory I was allowed to pick was my mask and I chose the “fanged dread.” This is the only thing my avatar possesses that is remotely fear invoking. Another aspect I struggled with was choosing a name. All of the names I originally wanted were taken. This lead me to make my name Asapmon; the first part of my avatar’s name is the acronym for “as soon as possible” and the last part is the first three letters of my name.
The lure of games like these is the notion that you can be anything or anyone you want to be. However there is something missing from this tagline and that is you can be anything or anyone you want to be within what is considered acceptable within the dominant society’s norms.