Playing with Yourself: Embodiment and Gaming

Abstract

This thesis investigates how embodiment in computer games can be reconceptualized as both digital and material through a new materialist framework. It argues that, through attentiveness for the material aspects of embodiment of both the player and the digital image, it is possible to make stronger connections to forms of ableism, sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination centred upon the body. It thus forms an alternative for the drawbacks of representationalism, that is, the measure of how words or images connect to the real world, by suggesting that an absolute distinction between 'real' and 'digital' is impossible, because both are always already material/real. Through two case studies of Mass Effect 2 and World of Warcraft, the thesis shows how rethinking embodiment in this way connects to issues of dis/ability, gender and race and poses alternative lines of flight.