Gamemunication: Prosthetic Communication Ethnography of Game Avatars

SF. Luthfie Arguby Purnomo, SF. Lukfianka Sanjaya Purnama, Lilik Untari, Nur Asiyah, Novianni Anggraini

Abstract


This study revisits Hymes’ ethnography of communication for game avatars, functioning as a communication nexus connecting games and gamers. Hymes formulates his ethnography of communication into SPEAKING (Settings and Scenes, Participants, Ends, Act Sequences, Keys, Instrumentalities, Norms, and Genres) and this formula deems to be unfit to explain how game avatars communicate. Implementing Klevjer’s prosthetic telepresence (2012) to analyze sixty-two game titles, it is revealed that SPEAKING requires an extension when applied to study game avatars since the formula is not designed to explain the prosthetic nature of game avatars. This prosthetic nature produces specific communication ethnography of avatars, which we dub prosthetic communication ethnography. By prosthetic communication ethnography refers to technical elements of gaming, which contribute to the ways the avatars communicate. As Hymes’ ethnography of communication with SPEAKING, this avatar based communication ethnography requires the same tool of analysis, which we call GAMING (Gaming systems, Attributes, Mechanics, Indexicalities, Narratives, and Geosocial systems), constructed with indexical storytelling by Fernández-Vara (2011), user interface types of games by Stonehouse (2014) and prosthetic video game theory by Jagodzinski (2019) as the theoretical foundations. GAMING and SPEAKING are integrated by bridging them with Aarseth’s ludonarrative dimensions (2012).

 

Keywords: Game avatars, ethnography of communication, prosthetic, SPEAKING, GAMING.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Aarseth, E. (2012, May). A narrative theory of games. Proceedings of the international conference on the foundations of digital Games, 129-133. ACM.

Cuff, S., & Terry, C. (2017). Commodified nostalgia and the virtual console. The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics, 15.

Downey, G. (2012). The here and there of a femme cave: An autoethnographic snapshot of a contextualized girl gamer space. Cultural Studies? Critical Methodologies, 12(3), 235-241.

Dumitrica, D., & Gaden, G. (2009). Knee-high boots and six-pack abs: Autoethnographic reflections on gender and technology in Second Life. Journal for Virtual Worlds Research, 1(3).

Ensslin, A. (2011). The language of gaming. London: Macmillan International Higher Education.

Fernández-Vara, C. (2011). Game spaces speak volumes: Indexical storytelling. Proceedings of DiGRA 2011 Conference: Think Design Play.

Giddings, S. (2009). Events and collusions: A glossary for the microethnography of video game play. Games and Culture, 4(2), 144-157.

Hashim, H. (2019). Narrative Techno-enhancement: The Impact of the Digital Visual Effects DVFx) in Creative Narrative Performance. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 35(1).

Hassan, B. R. A., & Novchi, R. W. (2019). Kepeminatan dan Kemodenan dalam Pembentukan Identiti Komuniti K-Popers Pekanbaru. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 35(1).

Hymes, D. (1962). The ethnography of speaking. Anthropology and human behavior, 13(53), 11-74.

Hocking, C. (2009, January). Ludonarrative dissonance in Bioshock: The problem of what the game is about. In Well Played 1.0 (pp. 114-117). ETC Press.

Jagodzinski, J. (2019). The prosthetics of video games. Schizoanalytic Ventures at the End of the World: Film, Video, Art, and Pedagogical Challenges, 149-165.

Jørgensen, K. (2008). Audio and gameplay: An analysis of PvP battlegrounds in World of Warcraft. Game Studies, 8(2).

Kasapakis, V., & Gavalas, D. (2015). Pervasive gaming: Status, trends and design principles. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 55, 213-236.

Khalis, F. M., & Mustaffa, N. (2017). Cultural inspirations towards malaysian animation character design. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 33(1).

King, D., Delfabbro, P., & Griffiths, M. (2010). Video game structural characteristics: A new psychological taxonomy. International journal of mental health and addiction, 8(1), 90-106.

Klevjer, R. (2006). What is the avatar? Fiction and embodiment in avatar-based single player computer games (Doctoral thesis, The University of Bergen, Norway). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1956/2234

Klevjer, R. (2012). Enter the avatar: The phenomenology of prosthetic telepresence in computer games. In The philosophy of computer games (pp. 17-38). Dordrecht: Springer.

Klein, A. A., & Palmer, R. B. (Eds.). (2016). Cycles, sequels, spin-offs, remakes, and reboots: Multiplicities in film and television. Texas: University of Texas Press.

Lipovaya, V., Lima, Y., Grillo, P., Barbosa, C. E., de Souza, J. M., & Duarte, F. J. D. C. M. (2018). Coordination, communication, and competition in eSports: A comparative analysis of teams in two action games. Proceedings of 16th European Conference on Computer- Supported Cooperative Work-Exploratory Papers, European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET).

Manninen, T. (2003, May). Conceptual, communicative and pragmatic aspects of interaction forms-rich interaction model for collaborative virtual environments. Proceedings 11th IEEE International Workshop on Program Comprehension, 168-173.

Mcarthur, V., & Jenson, J. (2015). Plans and co-situated factions: An evaluation of avatar affordances in Rift’s character creation interface. Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, 7(1), 77-99.

McArthur, V. (2019). Making ourselves visible: Mobilizing micro-autoethnography in the study of self-representation and interface affordances. Loading: The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association, 12(19).

Partridge, E. (2006). Origins: A short etymological dictionary of modern English. UK: Routledge.

Ping, D., & Du, P. (2015). Intercultural communication in the Chinese workplace. Berlin: Springer.

Rehak, B. (2003). Playing at being: The video game theory reader. NY: Routledge.

Ryan, M. L. (2015). Narrative as virtual reality 2: Revisiting immersion and interactivity in literature and electronic media (Vol. 2). US: JHU Press.

Shaw, A. (2013). Rethinking game studies: A case study approach to video game play and identification. Critical studies in media communication, 30(5), 347-361.

Siti Ezaleila Mustafa. (2014). Penghijrahan dari dunia realiti ke dunia maya: Tinjauan umum terhadap dunia maya sosial terpilih. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 30(Special Issue), 243-258.

Sjafiie, S. S. L., Hastjarjo, S., Muktiyo, W., & Pawito. (2018). Graphic visualization in printed media: How does the use of technology influence journalism culture. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 34(4), 373-385.

Spradley, J. P. (2016). Participant observation. Illinois: Waveland Press.

Stonehouse, A. (2014). User interface design in video games. GAMASUTRA: The Art & Business of Making Games. Retrieved on August 3, 2014, from https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AnthonyStonehouse/20140227/211823/User_in terface_design_in_video_games.php


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


e-ISSN: 2289-1528