Basic Trope: Characters playing a video game are shown in-game with avatars resembling their real life selves.
- Straight: Alice & Bob play an MMORPG. Their avatars resemble their physical appearances.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice & Bob's screen name is based off their real names, too.
- The only way you can tell when it switches to the game is by the HUD seen in the game.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob's avatars have a few traits from their real life selves; Bob has a red outfit to match his red shirt, Alice has blonde hair in a different style than her real-life self.
- Justified: Alice & Bob intentionally used the Character Customization system to base their avatars off themselves.
- Inverted: Alice & Bob are digital characters; when they enter the real world, their human selves resemble their digital versions.
- Subverted: After Bob enters the game, a large, burly knight joins him. When Bob asks who it is, the knight reveals "him"self to be Alice.
- Double Subverted: The reveal in "Subverted" happens because Alice removes her helmet, revealing a face resembling her real life self.
- Parodied:
- Alice & Bob play an MMO simulating real life, and so naturally have avatars that look just like them; "It's like I'm actually chatting at the mall!"
- Bob or Alice play a retail game with a protagonist that just so happens to look exactly like them.
- Zig Zagged: Alice & Bob have multiple characters in the game, some of which look a lot like them and others which don't, possibly of a nonhuman race.
- Averted:
- Alice & Bob play an MMO, but don't design their characters off of themselves.
- Alice & Bob are playing a game without customizable avatars; they're represented by the different preset characters they use.
- We don't actually see any gameplay footage, just hear the sounds of gamers playing.
- Enforced: The producers use this to make it clear who's who.
- Lampshaded: "Why do we look like ourselves here, too?"
- Invoked: The Big Bad developer uses this to enhance the "Die in the game, die in real life" mood.
- Exploited: Cops use the face of an avatar to find a cyber-criminal's real life self.
- Defied: Alice & Bob design their characters to look cool, rather than base off themselves.
- Discussed: "Why'd you design your character after yourself?" "Oh, this is my joke character. My real account is an Orc."
- Conversed: "Funny how the characters don't change much in the game compared to real life..."
- Implied: While we don't see Alice in real life, the fact that she used her real name as her screenname might mean she designed her character off her face.
- Deconstructed: Bob is laughed at by Alice for using himself as the template of his character.
- Reconstructed: Bob designed his character to represent the ideal version of himself, a "cooler" Bob.
Back to Deep-Immersion Gaming
