Breaking down borders in video games.
Jessoteric
Jessica "Jessoteric" Hartung is a San Diego native with a passion for virtual worlds and gaming. She holds a BA in Sociology from San Diego State University, and is really, really bad at writing autobiographical blurbs.
Homepage: http://jessoteric.tumblr.com
Posts by Jessoteric
Gender in Casual Games
Dec 16th

The Cafe World Avatar Screen
Lately I’ve been playing a fair number of Facebook games – checking out what sort of casual, social games are out there currently. Many of the games have very simple avatar systems, offering just the most basic of clothing for male and female avatars – but a few, such as Cafe World have taken it to an even more simple level and have made their avatars completely androgynous to start out with.
There are several reasons why having a genderless avatar is helpful – only one clothing library to worry about, and only one set of animations to create for that avatar, more variety for the users (Who says men can’t wear skirts?). However, in games with 3d graphics this could pose an interesting problem – you would need to create an avatar mesh which was extremely flexible as far as certain proportions go.
Though I doubt I will anytime soon – I would love to see how this would play out in a more detailed virtual space. I feel like giving users the option to create their avatar’s gender along two scales of masculinity & femininity as opposed to forcing people to choose between two extremes would be a positive experience for many virtual worlds and social games – no longer would it be the large busted tiny waisted ladies vs the muscular manly men.
At times when I visit certain virtual worlds, I feel that I am looking at a woman wearing a woman-costume (as opposed to an actual woman). It’s as though being in that virtual space with encourages users to exaggerate the characteristics which “make” them male or female. In the real world, not all women look like Barbie, and not all men look like GI-Joe. I am honestly unsure of if making androgyny the norm would make this more or less common.
In short – while I recognize this was probably a design choice made because it was easier to implement, not because it was making a statement, I would LOVE to see more virtual spaces put less emphasis on the differences between men and women, and encourage us to see them as just “people”.
Hello, world!
Nov 29th

Jessoteric, in the flesh.
First thing’s first – my name’s Jessica, or Jessoteric as some folks know me. I am very excited to have the chance to contribute to The Border House, even if it means that I have to do one thing I always dread – introducing myself!
I’m a straight ally in my mid-twenties, and was born and raised in San Diego, California among people from many different backgrounds, as my parents were both pursuing degrees until I was nearly old enough to do the same. I graduated last year from San Diego State University with a BA in Sociology, and focused my studies on Microsociology and qualitative research methods.
These days I work for a startup virtual world creation company, and am an avid reader and casual gamer in my time off. I particularly enjoy tabletop gaming (D&D), MMORPGS, casual social games, and am currently somewhat addicted to LittleBigPlanet (I know, SO last year – but it’s freaking adorable, and some of the puzzles are absolutely devious!).

Random Fact #123: I take pictures of eyes a lot.
I am not terribly new to feminism – but activism has been slowly becoming a larger part of my life.
After Prop 8 in California passed last year, I was heartbroken, and realized that to truly affect the world that I would have to speak out – not just in the presence of those who believe in equality already, but publicly to those whose hearts and minds have not yet been changed. I hope that through this blog we will be able to raise awareness about the inequalities that are so ingrained into our society that they’ve become “normal” to us – only by continuously questioning our norms can we create positive change in our society.
I look forward to lots of great, thought-provoking discussions here – if you wonder what I do when I am not here, check out these links!
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