Full Description
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.
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.
