Does your character reflect yourself?

There's a saying: Like master - like dog. Sometimes you can see quite hilarious resemblances between a dog and it's owner. How many times haven't you seen a gray, moustache wearing schnauzer, dragging someone in the chain, looking like his half brother?

But how about WoW? Do you - maybe unconsciously create a figure which somehow reflects a side of you? Maybe. At least when it comes to me.

I play a female gnome with pink pigtails. And that's for several reasons. To begin with I chose alliance simply because my sister and her husband, who made me start playing, played on that side themselves. Of course I wanted to have someone I knew to speak to in the game, and that settled the decision for server and fraction.

After dumping my first char, I wanted to try out a mage. Maybe I had some kind of deep, subconscious longing to have magical abilities myself. I'm sure it also mattered that I had read some fantasy with mages and witches as heroes. Like the wizard books by Ursula K Le Guin and the telling of the King Arthur mythology - seen through the eyes of Merlin - by Mary Stewart. Of course I was a huge fan of Tolkien as well, but not to the extent that I had to be an elf.
The choice to become a mage cut down the available races, especially since I hadn't bought TBC yet. When I was sitting there, looking in the book that accompanied the game, I understood from the description that the gnomes were small, smart and cleaver. They seemed to be a bit punkish. Something that fit well with me, having a passed as a punk rocker. I also thought the ability to get out of traps seemed convenient.

Female humans on the other hand made me a bit annoyed. I thought they looked like stereotyped tit queens which I just couldn't identify with. I guess that's one of the reasons why I didn't fall in love with my first char, a female paladin. Even if her haircut resembled to my own, she felt clearly alien, way to grand and stylish. So when I had the possibility, picking a gnome was the obvious choice.

It was also natural to make her female. All from the start I've had a, somewhat silly, connection to Larisa, she's sort of a part of myself (yes, laugh on!). Maybe it would have been different if I had started on a RP server, then I would have been open to create a certain role, make a figure with its on history - and then it could as well have been a male one. (Preferably a gnome! I've changed my mind about them - from the start I thought male gnomes looked like ugly old men, now I think they're pretty cool.)

The looks - yes... who can resist two pink pigtails? I can't. They're cute and still tough, at the same time. And since gnomes have a tendency to disappear because of their size it's good to have something that is viewable in the crowd. At least if you like I prefer PvE to PvP.

To some extent Larisa is a mirror of me. Not that I normally run around with two pink pigtails in RL - but once upon a time I actually did, almost. She uses quite a lot of make up - I don't - and her ear rings are much bigger than mine. But she is short - just like me. So when it comes to me the saying fits in pretty well. Like master - like dog.