The Virtual Ninja Manifesto by Goto-Jones Chris;

Author:Goto-Jones, Chris;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Unlimited Model

One of things we will consider in the next chapter is the extent to which this synthetic sense of identity – expressed as the non-duality between player and avatar – can be interpreted as a form of existential realization. Is the authentic emergence of what we have termed the playtar (player-avatar as one) a genuine transformation of the self through disciplined training that leads to immersion? In short, is the playtar a new form of humanity, a form of trans- or post-humanity, or is it simply the illusion of non-mediation generated by an instant of flow?

If it is even conceivable that the playtar emerges from this discourse as a kind of cyborg in which the boundaries between the (human) player and the (technological) avatar are not only permeable but completely collapsed, our critical attention in this chapter must now be focused on the nature of the technological artefacts that serve to concretize those boundaries. In simple terms, given what the experimental psychologists have shown us about the vital importance of control schemes in the accomplishment of immersion, especially in MAVs, what role is played by the humble joystick itself?

FIGHT-STICK: FROM PLAYTAR TO PLOYSTAR?

The status of the joystick or control-pad or arcade-pad or keyboard (whatever our choice of instrument) is far from simple. We might talk about it in at least two ways. First, we might consider the joystick to be the material technology that mediates our access to the virtual environment, by which our avatar is bounded. That is, the joystick feels like a tool; it is an instrumental technology, like a bridge, that links the player and the avatar. As a bridge, it might also contain the potential to forge a fundamental connection that gives birth to the playtar.

In this sense, the joystick is a liminal device par excellence, navigating and mediating the blurred and hazy lines between the actual and the virtual realms: while it has physical characteristics (in order to interact with our physical bodies), it is also inextricably bonded into the virtual world of the game. In these terms, when we unplug a joystick, it ceases to be itself in an important sense (like a ‘bridge to nowhere’), and instead becomes an expensive plastic paperweight with only the potential of being a joystick.

The second possibility is that the joystick does not merely mediate between player and avatar, but rather that it merges into the unity of the two. That is, the joystick forms part of the personality of playtar, such that we might more properly talk about the unity of three elements: player, joystick, and avatar – the ploystar, perhaps. In other words, rather than (or perhaps as well as) being simply the technological prerequisite for the emergence of the playtar (or the tool we use to create the playtar), the joystick is itself a form of prosthesis that not only augments but actually transforms our being. This possibility suggests that successful immersion involves the creation of a new form of cyborg-prosthetic selfhood, which collapses the

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