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20.
I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE ME (ONLY BETTER)
Popular media channels frequently
call attention to the imperfections of humanity. The breast implant,
low-carbohydrate diet, and whitening strip can all be recognized
as corresponding strategies, working in unison to kindle the re-definition
of a defective society. No one is impervious to this mandate of
"change for the better", least of all the video game
aficionados, who have insisted on (and been delivered) more sophisticated
sites of avatar customization. Even Tony Hawk's Underground
(T.H.U.G.), a title marketed to a skateboard subculture that
finds insufferable the very notion of mass appeal, features elaborate
options for generating the perfect avatar. Almost anything - from
the colour of the iris to the bulk of the waistline - can be modified
with ease. Rather than hop on the treadmill, players may painlessly
enhance their virtual selves through a sort of simulated surgery.
This operation by proxy, performed in minutes or even seconds,
releases idyllic characters into the gaming realm in all their
digital glory. Thus, the very same television monitor that flaunts
daily the flawless radiance of airbrushed starlets also displays
our self-delusions in the form of the ultimate avatar. Such made-to-order
characters re-affirm the growing desire to improve; to go beyond
the self and conquer the inadequacies pinpointed by mainstream
criteria. Conversely, these models of superiority bring to light
our own shortcomings, implying that we can only ever hope to be
on the verge of excellence, that is, virtually excellent. The
player's appearance options are by design, limited to rather idyllic
features; in the current generation of games we can only invent
a slight approximation of our likeness, with less flaws. That
character is then driven by us to excel in the goals of game life.
While realistically we continue to be sub-standard, gaming consoles
afford us the knowledge that an upgrade is always within reach.
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