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Avatar, Assembled: The Social and Technical Anatomy of Digital Bodies
Avatar, Assembled is a curated volume that unpacks videogame and virtual world avatars—not as a monolithic phenomenon (as they are usually framed) but as sociotechnical assemblages, pieced together from social (human-like) features like voice and gesture to technical (machine-like) features like graphics and glitches. Each chapter accounts for the empirical, theoretical, technical, and popular understandings of these avatar "components"—60 in total—altogether offering a nuanced explication of avatars-as-assemblages as they matter in contemporary society and in individual experience. The volume is a "crossover" piece in that, while it delves into complex ideas, it is written in a way that will be accessible and interesting to students, researchers, designers, and practitioners alike.
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Avatar, Assembled: The Social and Technical Anatomy of Digital Bodies
Avatar, Assembled is a curated volume that unpacks videogame and virtual world avatars—not as a monolithic phenomenon (as they are usually framed) but as sociotechnical assemblages, pieced together from social (human-like) features like voice and gesture to technical (machine-like) features like graphics and glitches. Each chapter accounts for the empirical, theoretical, technical, and popular understandings of these avatar "components"—60 in total—altogether offering a nuanced explication of avatars-as-assemblages as they matter in contemporary society and in individual experience. The volume is a "crossover" piece in that, while it delves into complex ideas, it is written in a way that will be accessible and interesting to students, researchers, designers, and practitioners alike.
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Avatar, Assembled: The Social and Technical Anatomy of Digital Bodies

Avatar, Assembled: The Social and Technical Anatomy of Digital Bodies

Avatar, Assembled: The Social and Technical Anatomy of Digital Bodies

Avatar, Assembled: The Social and Technical Anatomy of Digital Bodies

Overview

Avatar, Assembled is a curated volume that unpacks videogame and virtual world avatars—not as a monolithic phenomenon (as they are usually framed) but as sociotechnical assemblages, pieced together from social (human-like) features like voice and gesture to technical (machine-like) features like graphics and glitches. Each chapter accounts for the empirical, theoretical, technical, and popular understandings of these avatar "components"—60 in total—altogether offering a nuanced explication of avatars-as-assemblages as they matter in contemporary society and in individual experience. The volume is a "crossover" piece in that, while it delves into complex ideas, it is written in a way that will be accessible and interesting to students, researchers, designers, and practitioners alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781433135606
Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
Publication date: 11/17/2017
Series: Digital Formations Series , #106
Edition description: New
Pages: 328
Product dimensions: 5.91(w) x 8.86(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jaime Banks (Ph.D., Colorado State University) is Assistant Professor at West Virginia University’s Department of Communication Studies. Her social scientific work is animated by questions about how digital games influence how we see ourselves and about how humans relate to the technologies they use. She is a research associate at WVU’s Interaction Lab, was the founding Chair of the National Communication Association’s Game Studies Division, and serves on the editorial boards of Communication Research Reports and the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media.

Table of Contents

List of Figures – List of Tables – Acknowledgments – Jaime Banks: Introduction: (Dis)Assembling the Avatar – Teresa Lynch/Nicholas L. Matthews: Life & Death: The Meaning of (Digital) Existence – James M. Falin/Jorge Peña: Shape & Size: The Body Electric – Kristine L. Nowak: Race & Otherness: The Utopian Promise and Divided Reality – Jesse Fox: Boobs & Butts: The Babes Get the Gaze – Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn: Face & Hair: Looks That Change Behaviors – Hanna Wirman/Rhys Jones: Voice & Sound: Player Contributions to Speech – Sita Popat: Gesture & Movement: Indices of Presence – Mark R. Johnson: Names & Labels: Strategic (De)Identification – William Robinson/David Calvo: Gear & Weaponry: Market Ideologies of Functional and Cosmetic Items – Rabindra A. Ratan: Companions & Vehicles: Permutations of Digital Entities – Kristine Ask/Mark Chen: Alignments & Alliances: Associations of Value – Matthew Grizzard/Changhyun Ahn: Morality & Personality: Perfect and Deviant Selves – Nicholas David Bowman: Relationships & Reputation: Part of the Main(frame) – John Carter McKnight: Headcanon & Lore: Owning the Narrative – Nicolle Lamerichs: Cosplay & Conventions: Exporting the Digital – Andy Boyan/Jaime Banks: Rules & Mechanics: Parameters for Interactivity – John A. Velez: Achievements & Levels: Building Affirmational Resources – Christopher A. Paul: Spells & Statistics: Inside the Black Box – Oskar Milik: Class & Role: Frameworks for (Inter)Action – Isaac Knowles: Resources & Inventories: Useful Fictions – Peter Kudenov: Code & Logic: Procedural Desire – Mark R. Johnson: Glitches & Lag: Unanticipated Variables: Roger Altizer, Jr.: Pixels & Polygons: The Stuff of Light-Beings – Dominic Kao/D. Fox Harrell: Embellishment & Effects: Seduction by Style – Ryan Bown/Gabe Olson: Perspective & Physics: Frames for Play – Edward Downs: Mobility & Context: Of Being and Being There – Casey O’Donnell: Engines & Platforms: Functional Entanglements – Nathan Stevens/Anthony Limperos: Interfaces & Mods: Customizing the Gateway – Daniel Roth, Jean-Luc Lugrin/Sebastian von Mammen/Marc Erich Latoschik: Controllers & Inputs: Masters of Puppets – Tyler T. Ochoa/Jaime Banks: Licensing & Law: Who Owns an Avatar? – Contributors – Ludography – Index.

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