Published: 2018-01-31

Shaping the Avatar Identity in Computer Games A Study in Game Adaptations of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden

Izabela Tomczak , Paweł Stachura

Abstract

Izabela Tomczak and Paweł Stachura
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Poland

Shaping the Avatar Identity in Computer Games A Study in Game Adaptations of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden


Abstract: The article discusses possibilities of character building in computer games, which for many gamers is a way of expressing and modifying their own identity. Games differ in the degree of freedom given to a gamer in shaping the identity of the in-game character, or avatar, and in many games avatar-formation is an important part of game structure, providing a lot of game satisfaction, and requiring as much time and involvement as the game-play itself. The games under discussion are adaptations of H.D. Thoreau’s Walden. The choice of games stems from the observation that identity, freedom, and limitation are important themes of Thoreau’s work, which is reflected in the games under discussion. The three games discussed in the article are, thus, treated as modernist and postmodernist readings of a literary text, giving the reader/gamer more or less limited possibilities of shaping the character/avatar.

Keywords: cultural theory, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, videogames

JEL Codes

Game Studies, Culture Studies, American Studies

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Citation rules

Tomczak, I., & Stachura, P. (2018). Shaping the Avatar Identity in Computer Games A Study in Game Adaptations of Henry David Thoreau’s <i>Walden</i>. Er(r)go. Theory - Literature - Culture, 2(37). Retrieved from https://trrest.vot.pl/ojsus/index.php/ERRGO/article/view/6394

ER(R)GO No. 37 (2/2018) - mask/pseudonym/avatar

No. 37 (2018)
Published: 2019-02-05


ISSN: 1508-6305
eISSN: 2544-3186
Ikona DOI 10.31261/errgo

Publisher
University of Silesia Press | Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego i Wydawnictwo Naukowe "Śląsk"

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