1. The Imago Effect Identity in Games Harvey Smith Midway Studios-Austin
Studio Creative Director

2. Who are you really? You’re sitting there…no one is in your head
The person next to you can’t know you
You sort of think of yourself a certain way
You have some vague sense of self
It changes based on mood or circumstance
Each of your friends sees you differently
You’ll play many roles throughout your life
You’ll change jobs a few times

3. Who are you really? All your cells roll over every so many years
You’ve probably forgotten a lot already…
…maybe as much as you remember
Your linear sense of time is in question
Someone else probably has your name
Someone else probably looks like you
So who are you, really?

4. Introduction Avatars and archetypes What avatar choices mean Identity is multi-layered Identity is constructed Wrap-up

5. Today’s topic Player identity during a game
The player-to-avatar relationship
Why people make specific identity choices
There's a lot going on in the player's mind
Related to game avatars and sense of self

6. Self-expression opportunities
Customization
Character stats
Factions
Cosmetics
Literary archetypes
Online names
Intentionality
Strategic play
Improv actions
Plan formulation
Optional pathways

7. High Concept People love self-expression
Constructing and communicating self
This is who I am, this is who I’m not
Game avatars facilitate self-expression
Numerically
Stylistically
Archetypically

8. Fascination with Identity

9. Fascination with Identity

10. Fascination with Identity

11. Fascination with Identity
Early TUTOR game “dnd”
Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood, 1974

12. Fascination with Identity

13. Fascination with Identity

14. Fascination with Identity

15. Fascination with Identity

16. Honda S2000

17. Modern Participatory Culture
…reflects primal human drives
Facilitates our desire for more agency, self expression, differentiation
Asserting your will, your view, your identity
Web 2.0, Amazon account, Netflix queue, iTunes/iPod, MySpace page, etc
We want lots of things to customize

18. Meaningful moments Character creation with “action figures”
Tearing toys apart
Reassembling them as “my guy”

19. Meaningful moments Early RPG realization
Some players assume a different persona
Some players express some idealized aspect of themselves
Lots of arguments about these two approaches
Not everyone wanted to DM, to create massive amounts of content for the game
Almost everyone wanted to create some content, via character/avatar
Only a few people wanted canned characters

20. Meaningful moments FireTeam Voice tech Revealed Gender Age Accent
Contrast w/ projected teammate identity
Military teletype network
“This is Ramstein”
Code names
Text MUSHES and LAN FPS nicknames
Why “witchboy?”
Earliest Origin internal UO test
Snakes on a plain
Marc Leblanc’s breakdown of fun
Emphasizing discovery, expression, fantasy
RPG character history
Psychological trends

21. Meaningful moments Character identity arguments
The writer-game designer negotiation
Adventure game, shooter, RPG?
JC Denton or me?
We were missing the point…
In the end, the player was both
Military teletype network
“This is Ramstein”
Code names
Text MUSHES and LAN FPS nicknames
Why “witchboy?”
Earliest Origin internal UO test
Snakes on a plain
Marc Leblanc’s breakdown of fun
Emphasizing discovery, expression, fantasy
RPG character history
Psychological trends

22. Introduction Avatars and archetypes What avatar choices mean Identity is multi-layered Identity is constructed Wrap-up

23. Avatars are masks

24. Avatars are masks Similar to choosing a mask for a ball
Self expression
Idealized representation
Simple short-hand for iconic representations
An identity you take on, in part, while playing

25. Avatars are masks
Anonymity
Freedom from social constraint

26. Archetypes, Differentiated Roles

27. Archetypes, Differentiated Roles

28. Archetypes, Differentiated Roles

29. Archetypes, Differentiated Roles

30. Channeling Marshall McLuhan
The archetype is the goal
The nature of the Sam Fisher character implies all of his goals in Splintercell
Same with Agent 47 from Hitman
Or Superman
You’d never play Superman trying to assassinate a world leader during a geopolitical crisis
Marshall McLuhan, on the quest for identity
“…searching not for goals but for roles, a striving for an identity that eludes.”

31. Democratizing Heroics
Interactivity is key to our medium…
The player’s importance is a key way in which games are significant and different…
The player assumes a hybrid role of self and protagonist
The player is not entirely empathizing with some separate entity
The player is not some lesser being, hearing a tale of heroics
The player is the hero, in part

32. Introduction Avatars and archetypes What avatar choices mean Identity is multi-layered Identity is constructed Wrap-up

33. Expression via Avatar Choice
So what do the player’s choices mean?
What does Marlon Brando represent to people?
When they choose some incarnation of Brando, what’s going on in their minds?

34. Online Brando Avatars

35. Online Brando Avatars

36. What does an avatar say?

37. What does an avatar say?
What about Manson and bin Laden?

38. What does an avatar say?
Avatar choice communicates some sense of personal identity or mood state
Helps the player develop an understanding of self through personal fantasy construction

39. Henry Jenkins
“All of us move nomadically across the media landscape, cobbling together a personal mythology of symbols and stories taken from many different places. We invest those appropriated materials with various personal and subcultural meanings.”

40. Meta-levels of Expression
Even in games without character creation
Players are making implicit character creation choices when choosing which game to buy
Players engage in self expression when they choose between Sam Fisher or Lara Croft

41. Meta-levels of Expression

42. What does an avatar say?
Avatar choice communicates some sense of personal identity or mood state
Helps the player develop an understanding of self through personal fantasy construction

43. Introduction Avatars and archetypes What avatar choices mean Identity is multi-layered Identity is constructed Wrap-up

44. Double-consciousness
Aside from what’s happening on screen…
What’s going on in the player’s mind?
Games are multi-layered in terms of identity experience
Game characters allow us to temporarily and dynamically restructure our sense of self

45. Rules of Play Player-avatar relationship is not simple
“Double-consciousness”
Player enters an imaginary world via avatar
Relationship can be intense and immersive
At the same time, the avatar is a puppet
Player is aware of character-as-artificial-construct

46. Aspects of identity during play
Fictional character
Perceived sense of idealized self
Player, solving problems, completing tasks
Self as a person, with life demands
Player, sense of skill level/rep
Literary, pop, or mythic archetype
Primal emotions
Anger, fear, joy, sadness

47. Double-consciousness
I am a thinking person
I am the player of this game
I am the avatar in this game
I am some more primal drives
Represented by the game’s verbs
I am my anger, I am my desire for power

48. Susan O’Connor
“Playing God of War, I was constantly aware of driving this little avatar forward as I played, having fun and accomplishing goals. Meanwhile, I felt completely guilty for pushing Kratos forward into misery, as part of the game’s (interesting) plot.”

49. FPS double-consciousness
Playing young Vasili in COD2
Only aware of Russian identity when called by name
Throwing potatoes instead of grenades

50. Identity Absorption Scott McCloud
My car becomes an extension of my body
It absorbs my sense of identity
I become the car
“Hey, she side-swiped me!”
She and me
Rather than her car and my car

51. Identity Absorption At run-time, avatars are not literary characters
Avatars are masks, archetypes, cartoons, icons
When the player chooses an avatar, he often reflects some aspect of himself
Identity during play is multi-layered
The player becomes the avatar
And stays himself

52. Double-consciousness
Games are multi-layered in terms of identity experience
Game characters allow us to restructure our sense of self

53. Introduction Avatars and archetypes What avatar choices mean Identity is multi-layered Identity is constructed Wrap-up

54. Judith Butler Core aspects of identity are constructed
The coherence of gender categories seems natural
But this is constructed via repeated stylized acts
This establishes the appearance of coherent gender
Butler theorizes gender/sexuality as performative
Governed by social regimes
Appearing as coherent or "natural"

55. Identity construction
Identity is constructed by repeated stylized acts
We’re all engaged in character creation all the time
Avatars facilitate this
Games reinforce identity via stylized gameplay acts
COD2 potato throwing
Diablo II health restoration
Everyone heals (ie, re-adds life points)
Necromancer—transferring damage to a minion
Paladin—healing others with auras
Barbarian—taking the blood from fallen foes
Stylized healing reinforces identity

56. Introduction Avatars and archetypes What avatar choices mean Identity is multi-layered Identity is constructed Wrap-up
Harvey Smith
Midway Studios-Austin
Blacksite Creative Director

57. Summary Players find self expression powerful, enjoyable
People express themselves all the time, often unconsciously
Players make specific choices based on subjective reasons
Patterns come up as archetypes
Players gravitate toward/away from archetypes
Archetypes aid people in understanding/creating identity
Identity is multi-layered
Avatars are a combo of player, self and character
Avatars are vessels
As much as players project onto them, avatars influence players

58. Thanks! Harvey Smith Game Director Current Project: Unannounced
Arkane-Studios

59. Useful References Gary Allen Fine, Shared Fantasy
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
Matt Hanson, The End of Celluloid
Janet H. Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck
Cassell/Jenkins, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics
John Suler, The Psychology of Cyberspace
Salen/Zimmerman, Rules of Play