My Mii and Me

Here is an agony aunt letter I composed a few months back and sent off to real agony aunt webpages with some of the responses it drew -

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A friend of mine received a Nintendo Wii for his birthday last year and since then 3 other friends have also purchased the console. One of the features of the console is the ability to create a virtual persona or Mii. You can design this Mii to look like yourself but in a cartoony form. All four of my friends took it upon themselves to create a Mii of me. And even though each of those Miis looked different they all had one thing in common: they all looked exactly like me. This would seem fine but after some gentle mockery from my friends it soon started to affect my thoughts every moment of the day. I am now so convinced that everyone else looks at me and thinks I look like a computer game character that my self-confidence is at an all-time low. I really struggle with work and call in sick a lot, I've lost any trust I had with my friends, I can't even consider approaching women and I'm worried that there's no way I can ever be confident enough again to live a normal life. What is there that I can do?

Best wishes,
Stuart
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Re: Wii Problems07/02/2008 14:50
don't worry bout something like that!

Re: Wii Problems15/02/2008 06:51
thats silly, no one looks like a cartoon. I'm extremely insecure too, alot of things affect me, but that is silly, you need to look in the mirror and think if you saw this guy walkin up the street would u think he looked like a cartoon character? i bet you dont think that about many people, so why think it about yourself, life's too short to be obsessed with our looks, and for your mates, they were only havin a laugh, i doubt they did it to hurt you, and you need to rebuild your relationship with them, if u become unsocial you'll just get worse.

A reader, anonymous, writes (27 January 2008):

Hi Hunny,
Your mates were taking the p**s having a joke but the joke was all on you, Dont take it personal they didnt mean anything by it just a bunch of guys Wiiiiiiing around hunny try to see the good side in every situation, My boys got a piccy of me and did a paint job on the computor to make me look like the witch from the wizard of oz HA! FUNNY! I have got a broom stick but its out of gas! Take the fantasy out of reality and your you, The same great guy you were and always have been, Grab that confidence back go find a drop dead girl and take her to meet your mates they wont be so cocky then hunny, Get yourself back to work it really was a joke sweetheart get back into the swing of things and let this go right over your head TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOU WITH LOVE MANDY

A female reader, +, writes (25 January 2008):

I think you are having a little trouble separating fantasy from reality here. No matter how high def we are talking, NOBODY looks like a computer game character. If it's affecting your self-esteem and quality of life then maybe talking this over with a therapist would be of some comfort and help. Make an appointment. Good luck!

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Thinking I might make a documentary about someone suffering from this Mii identity crisis.

That is very funny

You are very naughty

Naughty.

But you know you do look a bit like a computer game character...

Personally, I'd forget ridiculing real Joe Public responses (but at least you had the grace to blank out their names).

Go with the thing you highlighted as a potential idea, which is the documentary about the Mii crisis. That's something deserving of your time and more than considerable talent.

When's the next new short coming?

Not trying to ridicule the responses, I was genuinely touched by them. The fact they cared so much was a better reflection of humanity than the internet normally draws. But yes, the documentary definitely has good potential, been planned for a while but a lack of time always causes a problem.

Trying to organise the filming of a second episode of Badgers Can't Yawn at the moment so hopefully that will work out nice.

Apologies, Stuart, I knew I must have misread it. I've got crap in my eyes, ears and head today.

Good to hear some more product is coming.

Funny stuff. My mate has a Mii that looks more like him than he does. Whenever we're at his house we boot up his machine on the sly and add a few pounds to him. Doesn't matter how much time he spends on his Wii Fit, he keeps getting bigger.