Monday, June 25, 2007

NineMoons talks about: CHICKSILOG.

All right, those of you who play Granado Espada in the Philippines, you most likely already know what the post is about. Please don't spoil the fun for our international readers! ^^

Now, what in all blazes is "chicksilog", you might ask?

A friend of mine supplied the etymology of the word as such:

chick: a wench + silog: a modifier in Filipino, used to specify any dish with eggs

Only, in the term "chicksilog", please replace eggs with balls. As in, yeah, guy bits.

Hence the common definition of "chicksilog": a guy who uses a female avatar in online games. The term can also be extended to refer to those guys who use female avatars on message boards, blogs, forums, and in online chat.

I believe one of the English-language equivalents is the acronym GIRL: "Guy In Real Life".

And this all ties in to Granado Espada when it comes to all those people with Catherines, Adelinas, Bernellis, Emilias, and the ever-beloved female Elementalist.

Ten'll get you five, at least half of those players are male.

Some might say it has something to do with aesthetics. Some might say that it's cooler to watch female characters kill monsters that are bigger than they are. Some might bring up the derogatory notion that guys who play female avatars lack the social skills to get close to real-life girls. Some might even say that female avatars can be exploited, in the sense of a female avatar asking for free items and money will get more than her male counterpart.

My friend pointed out the part where "chicksilog" has no female-oriented equivalent; i.e., in Filipino, there is no concise way to say "girl who plays with male avatars".

[Guilty as charged.

My CBT team had two guys on it.
cbt_teampic09

And here's the team I created on the Carracci server:
00012

Q.E.D.]

Maybe in other countries the GIRL concept might have connotations of creepiness and picking people up, but for me, the whole concept of "chicksilog" just cracks me up. Sure, there are some who abuse it, but by and large it's just one more reason to have fun in an online game.

The term originates from Philippine Ragnarok Online, in the forums; and then it became a widespread slang term following this song:



The band, Kamikazee, is famous for their pop-culture-drenched sensibilities, hard-rocking music, and most importantly, their bizarre humor.

[I heard these guys mangle Britney Spears's song Lucky once - believe me when I say that was pants.]

Here's a quick translation of the song, by me and my friend the Lucido Family:

CHICKSILOG
Kamikazee

Waiting all night, hoping she'll log on to play
The girl who called herself "Maldita" [1]
At the usual spot in Prontera [2]
Next to the weapons and magic items shops

And once you even gave your life for me
While we were fighting the bad guys
We beat them and you asked me out
It was my only chance to see you

Refrain
Two o'clock on a Sunday (at Gotesco) [3]
I even put on a good shirt (and some cologne)
I was excited (looked all over for you)
And my world crashed when I saw you

Chorus
Chicksilog! I fell into your trap
You deceived me, you cheated me, now I know your secret! 2x

What's the point in leveling up when all your fantasies are gone
All my strength is gone, like bubbles popping
No wonder you were so good at swordfighting
"Maldita" was a guy in real life!

Refrain
Chorus

Chicksilog! 4x

Now I know your secret!

Liner notes:

[1] "Maldita" usually means "a naughty girl".

[2] Prontera is the capital of Rune-Midgard in Ragnarok Online. One of the busiest towns.

[3] Gotesco is the name of a group of shopping malls in the Philippines.

***

Happy leveling and watch out for chicksilog! :D

11 comments:

Unknown said...

you know what, this is so surreal. i've been thinking about writing the same topic in my blog as well. XD

oh there are loads of them chicksilogs in GE. perchance we ask the guys why they chose to have an all female MCC team?

as for me, my main characters are all girls. i think it's not hard to spot a chicksilog in-game if that gamer talks a lot in the chat system. dun pa lang major give away na hehehe.

anyway, i also created an all guy team in caravaggio precisely because i appreciate hot guys when i see them. lol. and in GE, you can NEVER get enough of hot guy avatars. ;) i'm sure every sane girl will agree with me on this one. XD

PJ Punla said...

@ Anne

in all truth I'd been meaning to write about this forever. likely. ever since CBT and the guest article I did with Pinoy Tech Blog, about girl gamers and stuff.

as for everything else re the guy and girl teams: you are a woman after my own damn heart ^^

ever been mistaken for a guy online because of your avatar and/or your playstyle, though?

Unknown said...

i haven't encountered an instance when some players mistook me for a guy. i guess my "voice" is too feminine? lol.

but in carnage faction they never assumed i was a girl. they keep on asking if i'm female (mahirap na baka GIRL pala ang ibig nilang sabihin. hahaha!).

PJ Punla said...

@ Anne

you know, it's the same in Æphemeral Faction - there are still instances during which the members of a faction call me a 'guy' and mean they're assuming I'm male.

lol!

I have been mistaken online for male, though, especially in RO - they make for great story fodder, but sometimes it just gets tiresome....

Anonymous said...

Haha.. now i know what is a Chicksilog.

By the way, there's another way to refer to this, in english: MMORPG

as in.. "Many Men Online Role Playing Girls" XD

PJ Punla said...

@ fird

yeah, I've seen the joke definition of MMORPG before.

amusing that terms for guys playing girls spring up so easily, isn't it?

Unknown said...

HEY! you peeps are prejudiced (spelling?) against guys. LIKE ME! lol i love the juicy hanging globes of flesh getting all sweating after fighting a particularly hard boss or mobs .woot. bouncy bouncy smack smack, imma give you a heart attack!

Unknown said...

and i love the song. its cool. the chicksilog in the video(guy in pink) really looked like a girl tho. maybe my senses(or pic quality) has gone blur. woah. *MUST ABSTAIN FROM CHICKSILOGS*

PJ Punla said...

@ kelland

somehow, I'm really not surprised that you like the song. I enjoy the heck out of it and it's always good for a laugh.

and, well, the reason we seem prejudiced is that, one, the chicksilog phenomenon really has to do with the male of the species.

two, as I point out in the entry, there's no such counterpart for females playing male avatars [because it's likely some of us had to start doing so out of sheer self-defense *whistles innocently*].

Ligaya said...

@ Anne: I helped research for the article, neener. XD And I definitely agree, guys are actually the ones hogging then microphones, megaphones and basically all the chat channels! @_@

@ NineMoons: You found the video! {clapclapclap} \^0^/ Youtube makes my workstation crash. D:

PJ Punla said...

@ ligaya

wouldn't have done this entry without your support, encouragement and help - cheers~!