The Illusion of Choice

We live in a free world. We can choose the type of food we like for dinner, where to meet our friends, and what clothes to buy. We are also able to decide which political party our votes go to, the gadgets which accompany us to wherever we go everyday and so on. The things we have, how we look, and how we carry ourselves, are the result of our individuality. We live in a free world of choice.

... Or is that really so...?

In this world there has been an increasing move towards expression of individualism. We all want to be different from one another, and this has often been exploited in advertisements. ("Get the new Chevrolet Cruze. It expresses your individualism." or the Dove commercial that says something along the line of "You are who you are") However, aren't we limited by the "choices" that are given by the circumstances? The clothes we buy in the shopping malls we go to are limited by the stock they carry in their stores. The ideas we spark off are limited by our knowledge, values and personal experience. The look of our in-game avatars are limited by the choices we are given by the game designer.

I thought of this issue again when I was randomly exploring the idea of expressing individualism in games, especially role playing games. As mentioned earlier, games these days allow players to customize their avatars to express individualism. This works, when the player base is small. However, when the player base is huge, problems arise. There has been complaints of how a player in World of Warcraft could see the exact same avatar as he strolls across the game map. As much as we try to cater to expressing individualism, there is still a probability of someone who acts and dresses the way you do.

This is when creativity comes in. We have to break away from the box of options we are given. If I want to be truly unique in my dressing, I have to design my own clothes. In relation to games, this is probably where user-created content comes in.

But how creative can one be? There is still the invisible box of values, personality and experience that one have, which shapes their thoughts and actions. And creative ideas cannot materialize unless the tools to create the crystallized idea are available.

And humans are lazy by nature. That is why it is always easier to fall back on existing convention(s).













True individualism is a lie.