The Imago Effect

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

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

20. Meaningful moments • FireTeam • Voice tech • Revealed • Gender • Age • Accent • Contrast w/ projected teammate identity

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

22. IntroductionAvatars 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

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