Welcome to the third episode of Meaningful Play. In this episode we discuss what kinds of avatars we design or choose in games, and what kinds of patterns we notice in this behaviour. We also discuss the ever-controversial concept of immersion – do you feel ‘immersed’ in certain games? How do you view yourself in relation to the avatar? What impact does this have on the way you play?

Games:
Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Bioshock, Bloodborne, Dark Souls (series), Dead by Daylight, Divinity: Original Sin II, Fallout 4, Gone Home, Heavy Rain, Infra, Katamari Damacy, Life is Strange, Mario Kart, Muppet RaceMania, NieR: Automata, Okami, Overwatch, Persona 5, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Pokemon Sun/Moon, Pokemon Sword/Shield, Red Dead Redemption, Resident Evil (remake), The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Witcher 3.

References:

Banks, J 2015, ‘Object, me, symbiote, other: A social typology of player-avatar relationships’, First Monday, vol. 20, no. 2, accessed November 22, 2017, from <http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/5433/4208>.

Mancini, T & Sibilla, F 2017, ‘Offline personality and avatar customisation. Discrepancy profiles and avatar identification in a sample of MMORPG players’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 69, pp. 275–283.

Paik, PC & Shi, C-K 2013, ‘Playful gender swapping: User attitudes toward gender in MMORPG avatar customisation’, Digital Creativity, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 310–326.

Shaw, A 2013, ‘Rethinking Game Studies: A case study approach to video game play and identification’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 347–361.

Shaw, A 2015, Gaming at the edge: Sexuality and gender at the margins of gamer culture, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

Stabile, C 2014, ‘“I will own you”: Accountability in massively multiplayer online games’, Television & New Media, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 43–57.

Credits:
Artwork created by Amber Collins
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music