Shortcut to Posthumanism: Decentring Elements of the Gaming Experience
Shortcut to Posthumanism: Decentring Elements of the Gaming Experience

Summary/Abstract: The present paper is concerned with posthuman elements of digital games, as well as with their ability to create posthuman experiences for the player. First, we investigate the player of video games and her use of mechanic and software interfaces through the framework of the cyborg in order to draw attention to the fact that, in the act of gaming, the player is a hybrid of her real-world self, the programming of the machine and her virtual identities, with agency distributed between these components. Secondly, we analyse two representative titles, CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 3 (2015) and 2K Games’ BioShock (2007), with particular focus on the manner in which they directly problematize the posthuman or analogous themes in their storylines. Ultimately, we argue that, when purposefully designed, digital games offer a unique means to experience the posthuman, which cannot be reproduced in other media.

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