Wizards

When I am overwhelmed by responsibility and my brain is having a worry party with a few thousand guests and I have very little time, you know what I like to do? I like to find something completely mindless that sucks up the restof my time. Really...how could I possibly satisfied with blogging, Facebook, Twitter and all of my e-mail pen-pals, not to mention all my real life stuff? It's time that I come out again, this time as a big Wizard 101 playing nerd. I am a public servant by day, a parent all the time, but when the children are sleeping...I am this:

That's right...I'm a fancy African-American male wizard named Scot Skullfist. How did this come to pass? Well, Miguel created the character and chose the skin color, eye color, hair color (blue - a lovely choice) and I play with his character. Wizard 101 is played online, so, there are many other wizards (and the people behind them) playing in real time. So, you meet people and chat with them while you battle such things as Lost Souls and Fire Elves and other strange creatures. Not surprising, people talk to Scot like a dude. The other guys try to impress him with their power. It's weird because I know everyone thinks that the man behind the man is a man. Wait. Did that make any sense? Anyway, it's funny that 75% of the time Scot is actually a grown woman. I do have my own character (Victoria Darkwhisper, if you must know) and the other wizards treated Victoria differently than they treat Scot. They were more protective and they didn't chit chat in the same way. I can't quite put my finger on it but there is a subtle difference which makes sense because it's so pervasive in our culture. What I didn't expect is that I feel different when I'm Scot. I can brag right along with the guys and it's kinda fun. It's interesting and something I'll think a bit more about.

Oh Wizard 101 - I hate myself for lovin' you

So, have any of you done role-playing games before? And I'm not talking about the games you might play in your bedroom.