My anti-social social experiment

[uncomfortable man]

So I own a Playstation 3 and they have this feature called Home, which is kinda like a virtual networking site with a bunch of bells and whistles. It works like this, you create a 3-d avatar (like the sims), you can interior design your pad, get new clothes mingle with other peoples avatars in different settings like the club or the plazza and communicate with everyone through this lame text feature (I just plugged in a keyboard and it worked alot better). You can even dance and make all sorts of gestures (it's pretty comprehensive). So, I saw this as an opportunity to conduct a little social experiment and test people in this virtual world by making my avatar look as much like me as possible; tall, skinny and bald. Now they didn't have the option to have a buzzed horseshoe, rather a completely bald head but I added a little scruff for my beard and dressed myself pretty plainly (you can buy new virtual clothes) and hit the plazza to interact with other people in this virtual world. It felt really awkward at first, wandering around like a loner looking at all the cliques of people dressed in crazy ways. So for the first twenty minutes I tried starting conversations with random folks. Most of the ones who talked to me were guys because whenever I approached a girls avatar and could see that I was trying to talk to her, she would turn around and run the other way or tell me to "Get lost you bald looser, lol". I even had one guy call me a bald a**h** out of nowhere. When I walked up to a group and try to get in on the conversation, some girl would say to the other girl "lets get out of here and meet in another place." then leave. I was very discouraged at first but I was persistent. It forced me to think on my feet and be clever and personal, disarming the bald factor with self depricating jokes and the like. After an hour of this I kinda got the hang of it and was able to make people laugh and had a few good conversations. Maybe I'll buy some better clothes, work on my game and try my luck again, but I see this as good practice for real life although I never know who I am really talking to- I could be trying to hit on an 11 year old boy for all I know (funny, but my luck none the less).

 

[BodyDysmorphic]

or you could wear an avatar hat

 

[uncomfortable man]

Or I could have just given myself a trendy faux hawk with purple highlights...defeats the purpose.

 

[AssignmentZero]

LOL...that's awesome.

 

[IBM]

You could be a squirrel:

 

[ClayShaw]

Uman, I noticed in another thread you mentioned Killzone 2. Ever played COD4? If so, which do you like better?

 

[Smooth]

Well said Askas, but i think UM is just looking for reasons to be miserable :shakehead:

 

[Smooth]

Hell yeah, hair loss is devastating, its getting harder and harder as it progress i know, especially when you hit Norwood 6~ but the thing is; there is nothing you can do about it, if your lucky then a hair transplant *might* help abit, but other then that, nothing you can do, you basically have to pick yourself and start working on other aspects, people like UM and dudeamon tend to think that when someone advise them to work on other aspects that means that they will forget about hair loss, hell no, but you have to work on things that might make you feel better, becuase there is nothing you can do other then that......(i mean other then "feeling better"... if your a happy person, and somewhat contend with your life, you will attract positive people too, i think this is obvious.....but going online as a bald person "testing" people?! wtf, ofc they will stay away from you, you dont have to *test* that............... :jackit: )

 

[CCS]

So I own a Playstation 3 and they have this feature called Home, which is kinda like a virtual networking site with a bunch of bells and whistles. It works like this, you create a 3-d avatar (like the sims), you can interior design your pad, get new clothes mingle with other peoples avatars in different settings like the club or the plazza and communicate with everyone through this lame text feature (I just plugged in a keyboard and it worked alot better). You can even dance and make all sorts of gestures (it's pretty comprehensive). So, I saw this as an opportunity to conduct a little social experiment and test people in this virtual world by making my avatar look as much like me as possible; tall, skinny and bald. Now they didn't have the option to have a buzzed horseshoe, rather a completely bald head but I added a little scruff for my beard and dressed myself pretty plainly (you can buy new virtual clothes) and hit the plazza to interact with other people in this virtual world. It felt really awkward at first, wandering around like a loner looking at all the cliques of people dressed in crazy ways. So for the first twenty minutes I tried starting conversations with random folks. Most of the ones who talked to me were guys because whenever I approached a girls avatar and could see that I was trying to talk to her, she would turn around and run the other way or tell me to "Get lost you bald looser, lol". I even had one guy call me a bald a**hole out of nowhere. When I walked up to a group and try to get in on the conversation, some girl would say to the other girl "lets get out of here and meet in another place." then leave. I was very discouraged at first but I was persistent. It forced me to think on my feet and be clever and personal, disarming the bald factor with self depricating jokes and the like. After an hour of this I kinda got the hang of it and was able to make people laugh and had a few good conversations. Maybe I'll buy some better clothes, work on my game and try my luck again, but I see this as good practice for real life although I never know who I am really talking to- I could be trying to hit on an 11 year old boy for all I know (funny, but my luck none the less).

I find it VERY hard to believe that women would care what your hair looks like in a video game. Completely different from in person. I think this story is made up.

 

[Hope4hairRedux]

On the subject, has anyone seen the new Sims advert for the pc? I live in England, so not sure if this advert is viewed in America..

But anyway, at some point during the advert, you see a bald guy approach some woman, and she goes 'eww, go away'.

At this point in time, I couldnt give a f*** about baldness. Perhaps later tonight, or tomorrow I will be in a different state of mind. But generally, I am becoming more apathetic towards male pattern baldness. When you go out, and get laid, or pull a girl or something, you realise that its not the deformity some of us make it out to be.

I guess now, I am more just grateful that I still have most of their hair on my head, and that I havnt started to lose hair in my crown or started diffusing. Perhaps when that happens, and eventually when I go completely bald, then things will be a lot harder. It really depends on person to person I guess. Some people will probably look sh*t bald, others ok, and some great. I will be blessed if I look ok bald.

I think there are two types of bald. There is the male pattern baldness we assocaite with ugliness and poor health, obesity and and old age and so on. The horseshoe pasty office workers, the guys that just look like they have given up on life. The ones that are completley out of shape, have a terrible vibe and energy, bad skin etc. The guys that are weak and lack self esteem/confidence. Then there is the bald that can fit in to a better way of life. Athletic, intelligent. Buddhists. Movie Stars. Its all up to your mindset to choose what type you want to be. Bottom line is once you hairloss gets to a certian point, and it isnt shaved, in most cases it looks pretty ugly. So just go bald, do all the things you can to look good. I hate to say it but that ranks as one of the most important things you can do as a human. We value each other(mostly) on exterior. So work out, eat right, live right, be positive. Dont waste time on suffering over something that cannot be changed, instead look to work on yourself.

 

[Nashville Hairline]

Hope4hairRedux = biggest twat on this board, bar none.

 

[Hope4hairRedux]

Hope4hairRedux = biggest twat on this board, bar none.

Interesting. Im not sure what ive done so badly wrong. My comments arent exactly that out of line of what everyone else is saying. Im not insulting anyone else. Im just commenting on my own hairloss and relating to the suffering of others on this forum.

Tbh I would never bother with internet beef. Anyone can type some sh*t behind a keyboard. Its such a load of bullshit.

Nashville Hairline = biggest f** on this board, bar none. I heard you fucked your mum, then let your brother f*** you, and that you are all dying of HIV. You f** motherfucker. You probably never get an pussy cos u an ugly motherfucker. See what I did there. Not hard is it mate.

 

[Nashville Hairline]

No, you're right, the tone of your posts is totally in keeping with a guy who still has most of his hair, no crown thinnning and isn't diffusing. I agree, its over for you m8.

 

[uncomfortable man]

! wtf, ofc they will stay away from you, you dont have to *test* that............... :jackit: )

Well whenever I testitfy about how people mistreat me because of my baldness, they don't say " Well your bald, what did you excpect?" instead they usually act shocked and say they don't believe people are really that mean etc, etc. My point with this experiment is to prove and draw attention to how bald people are discriminated against in our society. How they are looked down upon as second class citizens and made fun of. Besides, if I don't have the guts to walk around in real life without a hat on, then doing it in the virtual world is a good way to test the waters, sorta speak.

 

[Hope4hairRedux]

No, you're right, the tone of your posts is totally in keeping with a guy who still has most of his hair, no crown thinnning and isn't diffusing. I agree, its over for you m8.

Whilst some of my replies can be drastic and perhaps depressing, these only reflect the inner workings of my mind. I really seroiusly feel that this forum is a really good place to vent some inner problems about male pattern baldness, and i feel its helped me to deal with it.

I do agree with you to a point. But I think its unfair to say that just because Im not thinning or diffusing I have no right to be affected by male pattern baldness. Our suffering is relative. I am around an nw2 moving towards nw3, and this still affects me. Im 20. Just because Im not completley bald or thinning doesnt mean that i wont be affected. male pattern baldness is distressing for everyone, whether you are nw2, or whether you are much worse. The amount of hair lost doesnt nessacrily equate to the amount one will suffer.

My looks ( just to make clear, im not stating that im good looking, i just mean my looks when i was nw1) have already lowered. Not drastically. But its amazing how even minor hairloss can massivly change the way we look. I completely realize that my hairloss compared to others on this site might be far less, and I respect that, however I still suffer like you do. Thats all im saying. I apologise for any annoyance.

 

[Nashville Hairline]

Whilst some of my replies can be drastic and perhaps depressing, these only reflect the inner workings of my mind. I really seroiusly feel that this forum is a really good place to vent some inner problems about male pattern baldness, and i feel its helped me to deal with it.

I do agree with you to a point. But I think its unfair to say that just because Im not thinning or diffusing I have no right to be affected by male pattern baldness. Our suffering is relative. I am around an nw2 moving towards nw3, and this still affects me. Im 20. Just because Im not completley bald or thinning doesnt mean that i wont be affected. male pattern baldness is distressing for everyone, whether you are nw2, or whether you are much worse. The amount of hair lost doesnt nessacrily equate to the amount one will suffer.

My looks ( just to make clear, im not stating that im good looking, i just mean my looks when i was nw1) have already lowered. Not drastically. But its amazing how even minor hairloss can massivly change the way we look. I completely realize that my hairloss compared to others on this site might be far less, and I respect that, however I still suffer like you do. Thats all im saying. I apologise for any annoyance.

Yep, fair enough, we are all in the same boat after all. I've no problem with guys with full heads of hair coming on to look for advice and shoot the breeze etc its just when the same guys say their lives are over it winds me up a bit...it makes ME feel worse cos I'm NW3v.

Anyway, no hard feelings.

Sorry for the hijack uman, my thoughts on the experiment are:
1. a good idea cos the anonymity of the internet allows for gaining honest answers you might not necessarily get in real life
2. a bad idea cos the anonymity of the internet also makes people's characters become exaggerated (more confident, gregarious etc) and less a reflection of reality

also, I dont think you are objective enough about hairloss to interpret the results correctly

 

[uncomfortable man]

also, I dont think you are objective enough about hairloss to interpret the results correctly

Well, although it is true that I can't know the true source, "Get lost, bald looser,lol!" isn't very hard to interpret. :shakehead:

 

[Nashville Hairline]

Well, although it is true that I can't know the true source, "Get lost, bald looser,lol!" isn't very hard to interpret. :shakehead:

What if the person that said that was actually a bald guy typing away at his computer? The source is pretty important I'd say.

 

[uncomfortable man]

True. Probably some 12 years olds, in which case I shouldn't be so offended. :dunno:

 

[cuebald]

yep, bald men are supposed to either be working, or slouched infront of the TV with a beer.
A bald man shouldn't be doing something as "youthful" as playing an online game, those are only for good looking youths. Of course.
Amazing it even had an option to be bald, unless that was just the default state - the state at which you're supposed to "add" your hairstyle.