The avatar and the player: Understanding the relationship beyond the screen

A. Gazzard

doi:10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11

The avatar and the player: Understanding the relationship beyond the screen

A. Gazzard

School of Creative Arts

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

17 Citations (Scopus)

221 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper looks at the concept of the avatar in terms of our interaction and viewpoints. It proposes a vocabulary of terms which analytically describe the player: avatar relationship as opposed to the player: screen relationship, emphasising the performative rather than the representational elements. In place of transposing cinematographic concepts such as first person' or 'third person' to the discussion of avatars, as has been the case in the past, the paper proposes the idea of the 'altered positions' of the avatar, whether that be playing 'within' the character' or 'outside' of the character. These concepts link to the avatarial display and avatarial presence of a game character and emphasise how the various 'positions' effect our movements and experience within the game world, and help us understand how we, as players, are 'performing' through our avatars, engaging in and enjoying a player->controller->avatar experience that is essentially aesthetic and emotional.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, 2009.
Subtitle of host publication	VS-GAMES '09
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages	190-193
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Print)	978-0-7695-3588-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11
Publication status	Published - 2009
Event	VS-GAMES '09 - Coventry, United Kingdom Duration: 23 Mar 2009 → 24 Mar 2009

Conference

Conference	VS-GAMES '09
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Coventry
Period	23/03/09 → 24/03/09

Keywords

avatars
presence
display
altered positions
games

Access to Document

10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11

903559.pdf

http://www.vs-games.org.uk/about.aspx

Cite this

@inproceedings{55e1b43521704ab2a4c9e6ac7bf69601,

title = "The avatar and the player: Understanding the relationship beyond the screen",

abstract = "This paper looks at the concept of the avatar in terms of our interaction and viewpoints. It proposes a vocabulary of terms which analytically describe the player: avatar relationship as opposed to the player: screen relationship, emphasising the performative rather than the representational elements. In place of transposing cinematographic concepts such as first person' or 'third person' to the discussion of avatars, as has been the case in the past, the paper proposes the idea of the 'altered positions' of the avatar, whether that be playing 'within' the character' or 'outside' of the character. These concepts link to the avatarial display and avatarial presence of a game character and emphasise how the various 'positions' effect our movements and experience within the game world, and help us understand how we, as players, are 'performing' through our avatars, engaging in and enjoying a player->controller->avatar experience that is essentially aesthetic and emotional.",

keywords = "avatars, presence, display, altered positions, games",

author = "A. Gazzard",

note = "“This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.{"} “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.” DOI: 10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11; VS-GAMES '09 ; Conference date: 23-03-2009 Through 24-03-2009",

year = "2009",

doi = "10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-0-7695-3588-3",

pages = "190--193",

booktitle = "Proceedings of Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, 2009.",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)",

address = "United States",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - The avatar and the player

T2 - VS-GAMES '09

AU - Gazzard, A.

N1 - “This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.” DOI: 10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - This paper looks at the concept of the avatar in terms of our interaction and viewpoints. It proposes a vocabulary of terms which analytically describe the player: avatar relationship as opposed to the player: screen relationship, emphasising the performative rather than the representational elements. In place of transposing cinematographic concepts such as first person' or 'third person' to the discussion of avatars, as has been the case in the past, the paper proposes the idea of the 'altered positions' of the avatar, whether that be playing 'within' the character' or 'outside' of the character. These concepts link to the avatarial display and avatarial presence of a game character and emphasise how the various 'positions' effect our movements and experience within the game world, and help us understand how we, as players, are 'performing' through our avatars, engaging in and enjoying a player->controller->avatar experience that is essentially aesthetic and emotional.

AB - This paper looks at the concept of the avatar in terms of our interaction and viewpoints. It proposes a vocabulary of terms which analytically describe the player: avatar relationship as opposed to the player: screen relationship, emphasising the performative rather than the representational elements. In place of transposing cinematographic concepts such as first person' or 'third person' to the discussion of avatars, as has been the case in the past, the paper proposes the idea of the 'altered positions' of the avatar, whether that be playing 'within' the character' or 'outside' of the character. These concepts link to the avatarial display and avatarial presence of a game character and emphasise how the various 'positions' effect our movements and experience within the game world, and help us understand how we, as players, are 'performing' through our avatars, engaging in and enjoying a player->controller->avatar experience that is essentially aesthetic and emotional.

KW - avatars

KW - presence

KW - display

KW - altered positions

KW - games

U2 - 10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11

DO - 10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 978-0-7695-3588-3

SP - 190

EP - 193

BT - Proceedings of Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, 2009.

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Y2 - 23 March 2009 through 24 March 2009

ER -

The avatar and the player: Understanding the relationship beyond the screen

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this