FROG 2024 | Ellie Chraibi | The Avatar in a Dystopian World

Inside: A reflection on the role of the avatar in a dystopian world.
by
Ellie Chraibi
Abstract
In Inside (Playdead 2016), unnatural narrative devices (metalepsis and second-person narration) are combined with the cinematic platformer genre’s conventions, particularly the bodily characterisation of the avatar. These two aspects allow the game to involve the player beyond the game’s diegesis (see Schallegger 2017; 2023), making her reflect on existential questions about her relationship with the digital world. Using a narratological approach and building on the works on unnatural narratives (Alber et al. 2010; Alber, Nielsen and Richardson 2013; Alber 2016), more specifically metalepsis (Bell and Alber 2012; Bell 2016; Genette 1980; 2004) and second-person narration (Fludernik 1993; 1994), I analyse the dissolution of the literary narrator in Inside’s avatar, game world, and User Interface as well as its effect on the player’s experience (see Schallegger 2017). I focus on the role of the avatar from phenomenological (Klevjer 2022) and cybertheory (Ensslin 2010; Kirkland 2009; Salen and Zimmerman 2003) perspectives with the support of taxonomies developed by game studies scholars (Barnabé and Delbouille 2018; Schallegger 2017; Willumsen 2018) to show its potential to create enriching transformative experience for players through ethical design (see Schallegger 2023).
Video games construct the artificial unity of the player, avatar, and protagonist by using ‘you’ narration. In Inside, this united ‘you’ is subverted by dissociating the avatar (what the player controls) and the protagonist (the agent body shown on screen). The mise en abyme of the avatar control with a mind control mechanic that allows the protagonist to transfer the player’s agency to a chain of virtual bodies is a constitutive part of the dystopian setting. In this metalepsis, the different narrative layers intrude on each other, moving the extra-diegetic player mechanically and narratively along the chain of control of the game’s diegesis. These video game-specific narrative and mechanic devices serve the dystopian qualities of Inside’s experience and prompt the player to question her relation to the virtual world. The subversiveness of Inside goes beyond its diegesis to offer the player the key to understanding the artificial nature of video games’ avatars and narratives. Working on video game-specific unnatural narratives may help designers create games that democratise game design literacy, thus elevating players’ critical thinking about their media.
////
This talk was part of the conference "FROG - Future and Reality of Gaming" 2024 | "Gaming the Apocalypse" | 11 - 13 October 2024 | www.frogvienna.at
FROG 2024 is organised by the Center for Applied Game Studies (University for Continuing Education Krems) and funded by the Austrian Federal Chancellery (Sektion VI - Families and Youth).