Unlike the two previous examples of RPGs, RuneScape 2 (or Old School RuneScape) does not have anywhere near the amount of character creation options that Oblivion and Dark Souls do, but it makes up for this lack in its unbelievable amount of customization; the amount of clothing, armor, weapons, and all-around gear available for each player to customize their avatar with is multiplicatively more than the amount present in Oblivion and Dark Souls. This is especially worth mentioning when considering the nature of RuneScape 2’s gameplay. It’s an MMORPG (Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game), which means that the game is played solely online, so each player is constantly encountering other players all over the map. And this is especially worth mentioning when it comes to the identities that players try to exhibit through their in-game avatars.
In RuneScape 2, players can very readily change their gear at any time to accompany a chosen activity or identity (or, coincidentally, both). A character that’s trying to most effectively kill bosses, fight other players, or just put on the appearance of someone who engages in such activities might decide to customize their avatar any number of equipment combinations centered around combat. Whether the style of combat is melee, ranged, magic, or some hybrid of the three, the player’s intentions should be apparent through the way they’ve customized their avatar. The same goes with a character who plans on exhibiting the message that they’re the type of person who’s fun to hang out with, fun to socialize with – laid-back and interpersonal. A player trying to achieve this particular identity might dress their avatar up in fancy, stylish clothing or maybe even some kind of funny-looking costume. And, for a final example, if a player is attempting to assume the identity of a resource gatherer (hunter, fisher, woodcutter, blacksmith, miner, farmer, etc.), they will most likely customize their avatar in a way that makes them look like the type of worker their character currently is in the game.
Players in RuneScape 2 can have their avatars navigate these fantasies of identity, freely and fluidly, in the way that they see fit, portraying a battle-tested warrior at one moment and a green-thumbed farmer the next. And, while it is true that the choice of gear for occupying such spaces of identity is almost entirely left up to the decision of each player (as any player can really customize their avatar in the way they want to, objectively), it’s imperative to point out that these spaces of identity are just that, and RuneScape 2’s community of players continuously construct them by way of popular practice. Judith Butler, in Critically Queer, makes an argument regarding gender that speaks powerfully to this issue of performing identity. She agrees, “If a performative provisionally succeeds, then it is not because an intention successfully governs the action of speech, but only because that action echoes prior actions, and accumulates the force of authority through the repetition or citation of a prior, authoritative set of practices” (612). The more players confirm particular customizations as being tied to certain identities, the stronger those connections become – and the more difficult those connections become to ignore or reverse.
