Avatar economies: affective investment from game to platform

Ryn, Luke van; Apperley, Thomas; Clemens, Justin

doi:10.1080/13614568.2019.1572790

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Individuals who use a customized avatar exhibit more physiological arousal, suggesting they experience an affinity with it that augments their experience, and report feeling the avatar more closely reflects their identity [35,36]. As Frow states, the avatar is a crucial site of "affective investment" [37] (p. 361) in gaming for players, and has become an embedded and elaborate tool for self-expression through customization across the gaming landscape [38].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of the Avatar in Gaming for Trans and Gender Diverse Young People

Morgan

O'Donovan

Almeida

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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A significant proportion of trans and gender diverse (TGD) young people report membership of the gaming community and resultant benefits to wellbeing. To date their experiences and needs regarding a key feature of games, the avatar, are largely unexplored, despite increasing interest in the therapeutic role of avatars in the general population. The aim of this study was to better understand the role of the avatar in gaming, its impact on TGD young people’s mental health, and their unique needs regarding avatar design. N = 17 TGD young people aged 11–22 years (M = 16.3 years) participated in four focus groups. A general inductive approach was used to thematically analyze the transcribed data. TGD young people report considerable therapeutic benefits of using avatars with positive mental health implications. Importantly, TGD young people use avatars to explore, develop and rehearse their experienced gender identities, often as a precursor to coming out in the offline world. They also report negative experiences of feeling excluded due to the constraints of conventional notions of gender that are widely reflected in game design. Participants described simple design features to better reflect gender diversity, such as increased customization. Such changes would facilitate the positive gains reported by participants and better reflect the diversity of young people who use games. The findings have important implications for both recreational and serious or therapeutic game design.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of the Avatar in Gaming for Trans and Gender Diverse Young People

Morgan

O'Donovan

Almeida

et al. 2020

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to Trepte and Reinecke [Tre10a] identifying with an avatar can increase media enjoyment and has positive outcomes for the play experience. Additionally, Van Ryn, Apperley, and Clemens [Van18a] mentioned that in multiplayer games, avatars are important for visually communicating with the other players. A different color and a circular halo below the avatar are assigned to each player, so the avatars become more distinguishable among teammates.…”

Section: Avatarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Iterative Development of an Online Multiplayer Escape Room Game for Improving Social Interaction through Edutainment

Najm¹,

Kyrlitsias²,

Michael-Grigoriou³

2022

CSRN

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Digital Games are nowadays used for several purposes beyond entertainment. Such purposes include but are not limited to education, promoting cultural heritage, and improving well-being aspects. A rich body of literature presents experimental studies, investigating whether a serious game achieves its aim. However, most of such papers often omit to provide adequate information on the development process followed, game mechanisms and techniques used, making the reproducibility of the game as such, by other researchers, difficult. This results in a lack of knowledge transfer between researchers, who usually must develop applications under investigation by themselves when at the same time industrial gaming companies rarely publicize the technical insights of their work. This paper aims to contribute towards filling this knowledge gap within the scientific community, using as a case study an online, multiplayer, escape room game, which aims to improve social interaction through edutainment. The full process of its development with details for the various components that the game comprises are presented. We are expanding on the functionality of the game and the optimization of the 3D environment and the assets, among other aspects. Results of white and black-box testings taking place at the end of each development cycle showed that the integration of the various components described within the paper led to a robust game.

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“…Within Fortnite, the achievements are abstracted. Compared to games on Steam, where they are visible and connected to a social user profile, in Fortnite skins are a means of expressing your gaming capital (or avatar capital, [29]).…”

Section: Affective Sense Of Worldnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

It is Not an Island It’s A World: Fortnite and “Worldness”

Moore

Carter

2021

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

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Fortnite is a massively multiplayer online firstperson shooter that grew rapidly in 2018 to become one of the world's most popular games, with current estimates of 350 million active players. In this paper we argue that Fortnite's success can -in part -be attributed to the affective sensation of worldness that it creates via its 10 week 'seasons'. Via a study of children's digital play cultures, we discuss the implications of this way of thinking about the spatial, social, and material structures of the gameworld for understanding Fortnite's success, countering discourses of 'videogame addiction', and guiding future research.

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Avatar economies: affective investment from game to platform

Cited by 11 publications

References 25 publications

The Role of the Avatar in Gaming for Trans and Gender Diverse Young People

The Role of the Avatar in Gaming for Trans and Gender Diverse Young People

The Iterative Development of an Online Multiplayer Escape Room Game for Improving Social Interaction through Edutainment

It is Not an Island It’s A World: Fortnite and “Worldness”

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