Gaming Is A Drag

Posted on Thursday, February 4, 2010
Filed under General Gaming, Global Agenda, MMOs, World of Warcraft

RuPual's Drag Race season 2 just started up this week, so I have been obsessed with all things drag lately. For those not familiar, I suggest your head to Drag Race's page and stream all of last season (it's only 8 episodes) and this seasons opener. Trust me when I say after watching Drag Race, all the other Make Me The Next Top Chef That Can Sew Designer Hair Cuts will seem boring and bland. The first season was pulled together on a shoe string-budget (and it shows) but was a huge hit for Logo, quite possibly their most successful show to date.

So how does a drag competition fit into MMO's? As one the queens put it; drag is all about putting on an illusion, having fun and entertaining; once any of that is gone, you should stop drag because you no longer "get it.".

When we play an MMO, we are putting on digital drag to have fun and to entertain. We're also putting on this illusion that what we do is important or that we, as individuals, can make a difference. The difference is that when we stop enjoying ourselves, many of us still keep putting on the drag and lip synching the same tired ass Cher tunes night after night, or in MMO speak, raiding the same dungeon over and over again. Sure, people have come to expect a certain level of quality from you, but you just don't have the passion anymore.

Many drag queens will tell you they go through evolutions in their art. Some start off being purely celebrity impersonators, then move to a more androgynous look, then maybe to hyper-feminized appeal. Unlike drag queens though, many of us MMO players try to recreate the same feeling by replaying the same genre over and over again and never even experiment with another form of game drag. We play WoW, then LotRO, then EQ2, then wonder why we aren't enjoying ourselves anymore, when games like Fallen Earth and Global Agenda offer up something familiar, yet different.

I'm just as guilty as anyone else of that sin. I try on the same dress in a different color and hope for something new. Instead, I should be trying on different styles of dresses, dresses that explore other themes or imagery. I've jumped around from WoW to EQ2 to LotRO expecting something different, but really those are the same style game in different colors. I need to try different styles of MMOs, maybe then my gamer drag will be fun again.

Lately I've been playing Global Agenda, and while there are some that argue GA is not a MMO because it lacks many of the traditional tropes of the genre, I would argue that it's just another side of the genre. Just like Ongina or Miss Nina Flowers are still drag queens despite the traditional style of Bebe Zahara Benet (go watch season 1, you'll understand the analogy), GA is still a MMO without being the stereotyped fantasy world that games like WoW represent.

I'm enjoying this new style of drag. Hopefully, I'll now be able to continue to entertain and have fun while putting on my digital illusion. Most importantly, this game has allowed me to display the four essential characteristics of any good drag queen: Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, Talent.

-Dickie