The Avatar and the Player: Understanding the Relationship beyond the Screen

This paper looks at the concept of the avatar in terms of our interaction and viewpoints. It proposes a vocabulary of terms which analytically describe the player: avatar relationship as opposed to the player: screen relationship, emphasising the performative rather than the representational elements. In place of transposing cinematographic concepts such as first person´ or ´third person´ to the discussion of avatars, as has been the case in the past, the paper proposes the idea of the ´altered positions´ of the avatar, whether that be playing ´within´ the character´ or ´outside´ of the character. These concepts link to the avatarial display and avatarial presence of a game character and emphasise how the various ´positions´ effect our movements and experience within the game world, and help us understand how we, as players, are ´performing´ through our avatars, engaging in and enjoying a player->controller->avatar experience that is essentially aesthetic and emotional.