Embodied Evil - University of Sussex
Embodied Evil - University of Sussex
Embodied Evil - University of Sussex
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<strong>Embodied</strong> <strong>Evil</strong>:<br />
The Aesthetics <strong>of</strong> Embodiment in<br />
Resident <strong>Evil</strong> 4: Wii Edition<br />
Being a dissertation submitted in part requirement for the degree <strong>of</strong> MA in New Media<br />
Studies <strong>of</strong> the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> the West <strong>of</strong> England, Bristol.<br />
Gareth White<br />
20 August 2007<br />
Page 1 <strong>of</strong> 69
Abstract<br />
This work is an auto-ethnographic consideration <strong>of</strong> video game embodi-<br />
ment using Resident <strong>Evil</strong> 4: Wii Edition (RE4) as a case study.<br />
Much current critical video game discourse developed from film and liter-<br />
ary criticism either does not engage with the player directly or does so with<br />
an imputed rather than actual player, and includes just the game itself in a<br />
consideration <strong>of</strong> what constitutes the text. Drawing principally on the phe-<br />
nomenological terminology <strong>of</strong> Maurice Merleau-Ponty, this work presents a<br />
critical appraisal <strong>of</strong> the temporary cybernetic assemblage <strong>of</strong> games ma-<br />
chine and human player in the establishment <strong>of</strong> an embodied presence<br />
within a cohesive and meaningful virtual environment. The event <strong>of</strong> game-<br />
play is established by repetitive, pre-reflective action, in which the player’s<br />
bodily intentionality is configured towards ludic, virtual projects. Through<br />
the physical mediation <strong>of</strong> controller and television the player’s new sense<br />
<strong>of</strong> embodiment in space is shifted in a way that calls into question conven-<br />
tional ideas <strong>of</strong> the audience, with particular attention to issues <strong>of</strong> immer-<br />
sion, presence, interactivity and configuration.<br />
Page 2 <strong>of</strong> 69
Table <strong>of</strong> Contents<br />
Introduction 4<br />
Avatar 7<br />
Cyborgs and Cybernetics 15<br />
Interaction and Configuration 21<br />
Space 35<br />
Immersion and Presence 49<br />
Visual, <strong>Embodied</strong> Aesthetics 53<br />
Conclusion 58<br />
Ludography 60<br />
Filmography 60<br />
Bibliography 61<br />
Page 3 <strong>of</strong> 69
Introduction<br />
Video game study has drawn largely from film and literature theory and methodology,<br />
however, meaning production in literature and film is distinct from experiential meaning<br />
production in embodied video game play (Seaman, 2004). Many scholars therefore<br />
suggest a more diverse disciplinary approach would be beneficial (Krzywinska 2006;<br />
Mäyrä 2005.) Embodiment is a critical issue<br />
tightly interwoven with many other aspects <strong>of</strong><br />
video game study which requires further<br />
analysis and clarification if it’s role in experi-<br />
ential meaning production is to be under-<br />
stood. This current work approaches these<br />
issues by closely examining a case-study <strong>of</strong><br />
the single-player action-horror game, Resi-<br />
dent <strong>Evil</strong> 4: Wii Edition 1 (henceforth RE4).<br />
The Wii is Nintendo’s latest video games<br />
console, which has achieved great critical<br />
and commercial success as well as scholarly<br />
interest. This thesis, however, is concerned principally with embodiment and only occa-<br />
sionally considers the Wii’s specific qualities where appropriate.<br />
Page 4 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The two most interesting and significant features <strong>of</strong> the Wii are its interface device, and<br />
marketing campaign. While the former has been the focus <strong>of</strong> much attention, I believe it<br />
1 Resident <strong>Evil</strong> 4: Wii Edition. Capcom Production Studio 4. (Capcom, 2007). Wii.
is rather the latter that has contributed most to the console’s success. However, as this<br />
thesis is concerned with issues <strong>of</strong> human-<br />
computer interaction it will be appropriate to<br />
provide a brief overview <strong>of</strong> the game controller,<br />
known colloquially as the Wiimote (a portman-<br />
teau <strong>of</strong> Wii and remote control).<br />
The first and arguably most important quality<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Wiimote is its similarity with television<br />
remote control, and difference from traditional games console controllers such as the<br />
Sony PlayStation’s DualShock, which was for many years previously considered to be<br />
the archetypal design for games<br />
controllers. Nintendo’s design greatly<br />
simplified the appearance <strong>of</strong> the device<br />
while consolidating its complexity inter-<br />
nally, away from the user. In particular<br />
it features motion-sensing accelerome-<br />
ters to detect 3D orientation, wireless<br />
communication with the games console, and an infra-red pointing feature which allows<br />
the game to detect with great precision to the precise direction <strong>of</strong> the controller when it<br />
is pointed towards the television screen.<br />
Page 5 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The use <strong>of</strong> this light-gun style interface, along with more natural motion sensing allows<br />
the device to take advantage <strong>of</strong> the cultural capital <strong>of</strong> contemporary a great many peo-
ple already familiar with devices such as TV remote controls. Traditionally game control-<br />
lers such as the DualShock have a great number <strong>of</strong> buttons and present an intimidating<br />
interface which unsurprisingly turns <strong>of</strong>f non-gamers unfamiliar with its use. The Wiimote<br />
in contrast has been noted as being more easily adopted by a wider variety <strong>of</strong> people<br />
from a broad range <strong>of</strong> age and technical competence.<br />
Of particular interest for this paper is the theorisation <strong>of</strong> the Wiimote in terms <strong>of</strong> cyber-<br />
netic prosthesis, which will be dealt with in the chapter “Cyborgs and Cybernetics”.<br />
However, this is not intended to be a comparative study between different consoles and<br />
different games. In particular, RE4 is available on a variety <strong>of</strong> platforms (PC, GC, PS2,<br />
Wii), all <strong>of</strong> which have unique and significantly different interface devices. While I will<br />
discuss the features peculiar to the Wii version I do so only ins<strong>of</strong>ar as they are relevant<br />
to my broader discussion, and without regard to other versions <strong>of</strong> the same game.<br />
Page 6 <strong>of</strong> 69
Avatar<br />
Embodiment in video games tends to be based on the visual representation <strong>of</strong> the play-<br />
er’s character or ‘avatar’, which in RE4 is seen from a third person perspective, from<br />
behind, looking over the character’s shoulder. The representation <strong>of</strong> avatar is a powerful<br />
device for facilitating the cyborg player/character identity, also in regard to the way<br />
games hail us both as character inside the game world and as player on the outside. In<br />
the mind <strong>of</strong> the player this further helps to blur the boundaries between the two worlds<br />
(Lahti 2002: 164).<br />
As the player adjusts to the mediation <strong>of</strong> the game their sense <strong>of</strong> identity in this space is<br />
revealed as a negotiated affair, with the player bringing their own sense <strong>of</strong> self into con-<br />
junction with both the denotative and connotative iconic meaning <strong>of</strong> the avatar, as well<br />
as its functional or symbolic significance within that world. The degree to which this oc-<br />
curs, however, is debated, with some scholars more concerned with the nature <strong>of</strong> avatar<br />
as mere interface device, or as ‘vehicle’ for the player to drive (Aarseth 2004; Carr<br />
2002; Flanagan 1999).<br />
Page 7 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
In approaching other visual media we might consider the avatar as iconic representa-<br />
tion, but this is problematic with video games due to the player’s special relationship<br />
with it. Rather than merely perceiving the avatar, the game player drives this ‘icon’ and<br />
comes to use it as their embodied presence in the game world. While it might initially be<br />
appropriate to consider reception <strong>of</strong> this icon using traditional visual media criticism,<br />
Dovey and Kennedy point out that through embodied play the avatar becomes the con-<br />
junction <strong>of</strong> icon and player and cannot be adequately described as independently one or
the other (2006: 109, 112). My first impression <strong>of</strong> RE4’s main avatar (Leon Scott Ken-<br />
Leon Scott Kennedy<br />
Nosferatu<br />
nedy) as visual icon was not a<br />
very favourable one. The mid-<br />
length, side-parted blond hair,<br />
half covering his face, pouting<br />
lips and smouldering, down-<br />
turned eyes reminded me <strong>of</strong> a<br />
photo-shoot from a 1980s boy<br />
band. In contrast, the pasty skin<br />
and deep rings around the eyes con-<br />
noted for me a semblance <strong>of</strong> Nos-<br />
feratu. I half-expected the game to be<br />
accompanied by a New-Romantic<br />
soundtrack. 2<br />
Newman (2002) observes that avatars are experienced as hav-<br />
ing distinct qualities between on-line and <strong>of</strong>f-line interactivity. During on-line play, avatar<br />
representation becomes less significant for players, who <strong>of</strong>ten skip <strong>of</strong>f-line sections<br />
when possible, while prior to play it may serve to attract the player to the game.<br />
RE4 is unusual in that it features not one but six player avatars: Leon Scott Kennedy,<br />
Ashley Graham, Ada Wong, Jack Krauser, HUNK, and Albert Wesker.<br />
Page 8 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Mark Owen (Take That)<br />
Simon Le Bon<br />
(Duran Duran)<br />
2 It is left as an exercise for the reader to decide whether this analysis says more about me or Capcom’s<br />
character artists.
Leon Scott Kennedy is a 27 year old U.S. secret agent, and principal pro-<br />
tagonist <strong>of</strong> the game. Through most <strong>of</strong> the game, Leon is the player’s<br />
avatar, so through the remainder <strong>of</strong> this text unless otherwise men-<br />
tioned this is the avatar to which I am referring.<br />
The other principal player avatar is Ada Wong, a<br />
lithe Chinese-American operative for a mysterious<br />
group known as “The Organization”. She ap-<br />
pears during numerous cutscenes <strong>of</strong> the main game<br />
and is a playable character in her own special mis-<br />
sions as well as “The Mercenaries”, an unlockable<br />
extra mini-game which is only available after<br />
completing the main game. In addition to visual<br />
appearance, character back-story and game ob-<br />
jectives, Ada exhibits different gameplay qualities to Leon. The<br />
principal differences I noticed when playing her were related to<br />
motility. It seemed in my subjective evaluation that the avatar<br />
was moving faster than Leon. This seems appropriate as her character is introduced<br />
during <strong>of</strong>f-line cutscenes with an exhibition <strong>of</strong> grace and martial arts. She is portrayed<br />
visually and diegetically as stealthy and mysterious. This avatar is also capable <strong>of</strong> ath-<br />
letic feats such as leaping onto objects that Leon is incapable <strong>of</strong> reaching. Playing as<br />
Ada feels qualitatively different to playing as Leon, highlighting the aesthetic synergy <strong>of</strong><br />
visual, diegetic and ludic aspects <strong>of</strong> avatar. This coherence <strong>of</strong> diverse aspects in video<br />
games is an important factor in the constitution <strong>of</strong> their particular aesthetic.<br />
Page 9 <strong>of</strong> 69
During a short section <strong>of</strong> the game the player ‘becomes’ the 20 year old Ashley Gra-<br />
ham, daughter <strong>of</strong> the U.S. President and damsel in distress for this<br />
modern fairy-tale. Ashley is shorter than Leon and the camera is posi-<br />
tioned to reflect this, meaning that the player sees the world from a<br />
lower height than they have become accustomed to. The change in<br />
height results in everything looking somewhat larger, enemies in<br />
particular. During my play sessions the strongest shock was that<br />
as Ashley I had nothing in my inventory. Through playing as<br />
Leon for several hours I had accumulated a significant<br />
arsenal <strong>of</strong> weapons and sundry equipment. With the<br />
change <strong>of</strong> avatar I was suddenly stripped <strong>of</strong> all these important<br />
tools. In effect I felt that I had lost something <strong>of</strong> myself in the process.<br />
This highlights an important aspect <strong>of</strong> playing RE4, and perhaps many video games, the<br />
role and meaning <strong>of</strong> inventory as it constitutes the sense <strong>of</strong> embodiment.<br />
Page 10 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The principal types <strong>of</strong> equipment that can be collected during the game are weapons,<br />
ammunition, herbs and healing medicines, treasure such as jewellery and cash, and<br />
keys. Treasure exists purely to be exchanged for weapons, ammunition and medicine.<br />
Keys exist purely to unlock access to previously inaccessible areas <strong>of</strong> the world and<br />
thus effect progression. Weapons and ammunition define the ways in which the avatar<br />
is able to interact with enemies and some objects in the game. Herbs and healing medi-<br />
cines are literally the means by which the life <strong>of</strong> the avatar is sustained. After taking<br />
damage from enemy attacks, I needed to periodically heal my avatar by applying some<br />
<strong>of</strong> the remedies. The player’s avatar has a health bar that shows a graphical represen-
tation <strong>of</strong> their current and maximum health status. Being hit by an enemy decreases the<br />
current level proportional to the power <strong>of</strong> their weapon wielded. Some <strong>of</strong> the herbs that<br />
can be found in the game increase the maximum health value <strong>of</strong> the avatar, thus mak-<br />
ing them potentially much tougher than at the start <strong>of</strong> the game.<br />
Each <strong>of</strong> these categories <strong>of</strong> items functions in a way that in part constitutes the avatar<br />
and their relation to the world. When the avatar picks up any <strong>of</strong> these items they are<br />
stored in the inventory, that is, they go from being part <strong>of</strong> the external world to part <strong>of</strong><br />
‘me’.<br />
Page 11 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The inventory is represented as an internal space separate from the game world. Once<br />
an object has entered the inventory it can only affect the outside world as and when I<br />
choose to use it. In material terms it no longer exists as an object <strong>of</strong> the world, and can<br />
never leave the inventory to become a distinct, external object again. Henceforth it only<br />
exists as a capability <strong>of</strong> my avatar. When I pick up a hand grenade the object disap-<br />
pears from the external world and there is no means for me to put the object back down<br />
in the same state once it has entered my inventory. The grenade can later be discarded,<br />
but it does not re-enter the external world, it simply disappears from existence. The gre-<br />
nade could instead be equipped as a weapon and thrown, but it is actually incorrect to<br />
think <strong>of</strong> it as the same object being thrown, it is merely a mechanism for my avatar to<br />
interact with enemies in the game. When thrown it is literally no longer an object but<br />
simply an effect: a visual and sonic explosion and a modulation <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>of</strong> entities in<br />
the game world. At no point does the original object ever exist in the same state as it did<br />
before I picked it up. There is no way to throw a hand grenade and then pick it up again.
Page 12 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The distinction between external world and internal space <strong>of</strong> the inventory is further em-<br />
phasised by the change in spatial representation and time. In gameplay terms the two<br />
domains <strong>of</strong> inventory and world are exclusive as the player can only access one or the<br />
other at a time. When accessing the inventory, time in the normal 3D game world is<br />
suspended. The player can manipulate the contents <strong>of</strong> their inventory for as long as<br />
they like with no change occurring in the external game world. Visually ‘inventory space’<br />
is represented as 2D objective space. The player does not take a subjective, situated<br />
3D position within space as is the case during the main game, but rather perceives and<br />
manipulates the inventory without avatarial representation. That is, without embodiment.<br />
Or perhaps it is more useful to say that external objects are incorporated into the avatar<br />
as my embodied presence in the virtual world. The avatar as a virtually corporeal entity<br />
is changed by this incorporation in terms <strong>of</strong> its relationship to the world. By collecting
more weapons and ammunition I develop the potential for my avatar to dispatch more<br />
adversaries and hence progress through the game.<br />
In a manner similar to weaponry, collecting keys allows me to advance through the<br />
game. This time, the incorporation <strong>of</strong> an external object into my bodily capability (putting<br />
the key into my inventory) changes how I relate to the rest <strong>of</strong> the game world. What was<br />
previously in effect a wall is now experienced as a portal. There is no sense in RE4 <strong>of</strong> a<br />
door that can be locked, unlocked and then locked again. There are non-locked doors<br />
that can change from being open to closed and back again without limit and which can-<br />
not be locked, and there are locked doors that can change to unlocked just once and<br />
only in that direction. The unlocking <strong>of</strong> a door removes the key from my inventory and<br />
changes the locked door into an non-locked door.<br />
In experiential terms, the incorporation <strong>of</strong> a key changes my relation to unexplored<br />
space rather than to adversaries within my current space. Initially my bodily relation to<br />
space is constrained to the non-locked areas, but once I have acquired a key my capa-<br />
bility <strong>of</strong> bodily motility is enhanced. Importantly collecting keys in my inventory only<br />
changes the meaning <strong>of</strong> doors for my avatar, not for enemy characters in the game,<br />
emphasising that the change in state is subjective and tied to my embodied presence<br />
and it’s inventory.<br />
Page 13 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The only exception to this case is during the sections <strong>of</strong> game when playing as Leon,<br />
leading Ashley. In these situations I am in normal control <strong>of</strong> Leon, but additionally I have<br />
some capacity to direct Ashley. Her character normally closely follows Leon, giving the<br />
impression <strong>of</strong> some kind <strong>of</strong> umbilical cord between the two characters which is felt like
an extension <strong>of</strong> the normal unitary avatar. I have limited but direct control <strong>of</strong> her, and<br />
can issue the commands “Wait” and “Follow Me” as well as some context specific in-<br />
structions such as “Hide” when standing by certain objects large enough to hold her.<br />
When Leon incorporates keys into his inventory he can unlock and pass through doors,<br />
but also takes Ashley with him. During these sections <strong>of</strong> play it is as if Leon and Ashley<br />
are part <strong>of</strong> the same entity, <strong>of</strong> which I as player make up the vital third part. Ashley has<br />
limited artificial intelligence, usually capable <strong>of</strong> finding her way to Leon, and is in some<br />
way a discrete character, but greatly dependent upon Leon, incapable <strong>of</strong> any real exis-<br />
tence without him. Leon for his part lacks any kind <strong>of</strong> intelligence or autonomy without<br />
control from me as player - save from the non-interactive, purely cinematic sections<br />
which intersperse gameplay. Finally as the player I lack any presence without the aid <strong>of</strong><br />
an avatar. It is through the symbiotic conjunction <strong>of</strong> player and avatar that meaning is<br />
established within the virtual world. This hybrid conjunction <strong>of</strong> human and technology is<br />
the topic <strong>of</strong> the following chapter, “Cyborgs and Cybernetics”.<br />
Page 14 <strong>of</strong> 69
Cyborgs and Cybernetics<br />
"One could conclude that the parasite is manipulating the host's<br />
behavior to make its way into the body <strong>of</strong> its definitive host.”<br />
-Luis Sera, supporting character in RE4<br />
The spread <strong>of</strong> new technologies throughout everyday life has led media<br />
theorists to turn to cybernetics as a way to understand the relationship be-<br />
tween human and machine-text (Haraway 1991, Hayles 1999). This<br />
proves productive for theorising a post-Enlightenment notion <strong>of</strong> subjectivity<br />
which rejects a purely humanistic framework in favour <strong>of</strong> recognising the agency <strong>of</strong><br />
technology in our society (Heidegger 1954). Such an approach raises important ques-<br />
tions for studying videogames as a paradigm for engaging, immersive, meaningful<br />
human-computer interaction (Lahti 2003). In particular Haraway's rendering <strong>of</strong> the cy-<br />
borg's hybrid nature as a rejection <strong>of</strong> the binary distinction between human and technol-<br />
ogy has become a dominant motif in new media and games studies (1991). For exam-<br />
ple, Dovey and Kennedy (2006) argue that purely textual analyses cannot account for<br />
the full range <strong>of</strong> gameplay, which comes about by the cybernetic feedback constituted<br />
by player and machine (see also Salen & Zimmerman 2003; Friedman 1995; Lahti<br />
2003; Cameron 1995).<br />
Page 15 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
McLuhan popularised the notion that not only did technology have an active role to play<br />
in society, but that it had a pr<strong>of</strong>ound effect upon our consciousness (McLuhan 1964). He
argued that media technologies act as extensions <strong>of</strong> our senses, and that our con-<br />
sciousness is constituted by the ratio <strong>of</strong> our sensory stimuli. Ihde (1998) also discusses<br />
bodily and sensory extension in regard to technology, with particular reference to Hei-<br />
degger and Merleau-Ponty. Heidegger (1962) analysed the human use <strong>of</strong> tools and<br />
noted the way they temporarily change from being discrete, separate objects, to becom-<br />
ing part <strong>of</strong> the action in which they are used. In the case <strong>of</strong> video games, the discrete<br />
player and game come together to create a third term or event: gameplay (Dovey &<br />
Kennedy 2006, Giddings 2006). In Ihde’s treatment <strong>of</strong> tools as sensory extension he re-<br />
fers to Merleau-Ponty with a discussion <strong>of</strong> how a blind man's cane extends his sense <strong>of</strong><br />
touch by redefining the boundaries <strong>of</strong> the "here-body". This extension <strong>of</strong> the "here-body"<br />
is involved in the construction <strong>of</strong> the accumulated, past, habitual body image which<br />
might account for what has been called “The Tetris Effect”: after prolonged gaming ses-<br />
sions, Tetris players anecdotally report visual and cognitive disturbances which appear<br />
to be derived from their game play, such as experiencing a heightened awareness for<br />
the possibilities <strong>of</strong> objects in their immediate surroundings to fit together like Tetris<br />
Page 16 <strong>of</strong> 69
pieces 3 , as amusingly illustrated by the following comic, 4<br />
Page 17 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Within the context <strong>of</strong> VR or video games, the monitor can be considered as an exten-<br />
sion <strong>of</strong> vision, and the visibility <strong>of</strong> (parts <strong>of</strong>) our avatar body - especially when seen by<br />
the player from a first person point <strong>of</strong> view - acts as a prosthetic link between the physi-<br />
cal human and its counterpart within the virtual space (Lahti 2003). Huhtamo discusses<br />
how this "bilocation" is simultaneously a representation and source <strong>of</strong> bodily experience<br />
(1995: 177). There is no simple Cartesian dualism here, no separation <strong>of</strong> mind from<br />
“meat”, but rather a complication <strong>of</strong> the constitution <strong>of</strong> body being present in two loca-<br />
tions simultaneously. Both locations are ontologically different (Aarseth 1998), hence<br />
3 Further intriguing research to consider would be the work conducted by Robert Stickgold at Harvard<br />
Medical School comparing amnesiac Tetris players with normal players who reported dreaming <strong>of</strong> images<br />
from the game. Of particular interest to this study is the following,<br />
“Co-author David Roddenberry, an undergraduate at Harvard, noticed that one <strong>of</strong> the amnesiacs who<br />
didn’t remember the game nevertheless placed her fingers on the computer keys used in playing at the<br />
start <strong>of</strong> a session.”<br />
Leutwyler, Kristin. “Tetris Dreams”, (Scientific American, 2000).<br />
(Last accessed<br />
20th May 2007).<br />
See also (Last accessed 20th May 2007) and<br />
(Last accessed 20th May 2007).<br />
4 Gurewitch, Nicholas. “Game Boy”, The Perry Bible Fellowship.<br />
(Last accessed 19th July 2007).
are both forms and senses <strong>of</strong> the body, being determined by their specific conditions.<br />
Huhtamo’s project follows in the tradition <strong>of</strong> Ihde, McLuhan and Heidegger as an inves-<br />
tigation into the effects <strong>of</strong> technology upon culture, in which he sees adaptation to<br />
“telematic” environments as being symptomatic <strong>of</strong> contemporary high-tech society. This<br />
thesis is in many ways an attempt to account for the specificity involved in being a<br />
physical body using technological tools to project one’s sense <strong>of</strong> presence into the vir-<br />
tual game space.<br />
From the concepts <strong>of</strong> cybernetics and the cyborg develops the idea <strong>of</strong> cybertext, the cy-<br />
bernetic assemblage <strong>of</strong> player and ergodic text - that is, a dynamic text upon which the<br />
user/player must take action for gameplay to come into being (Aarseth 1997). As we<br />
have already discussed, video game play only occurs when player and game interact.<br />
While recourse to a cybernetic framework has been useful to highlight machine agency,<br />
the intention <strong>of</strong> my work is to attend to the specific material conditions <strong>of</strong> both human<br />
and machine in their novel 'physiology' (Lister et al. 2003: 374), with attention to the<br />
specifically human qualities <strong>of</strong> somatic awareness and the technological properties <strong>of</strong><br />
the machine which affect them during gameplay.<br />
Page 18 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
RE4 provides an instructive example <strong>of</strong> the way in which my senses could be described<br />
as being extended during play. First <strong>of</strong> all it will be useful to describe my style during the<br />
early stages <strong>of</strong> the game. Being unfamiliar with the world, its properties and mores but<br />
being more used to other, more fast-paced action / combat games, I began with an ag-<br />
gressive play style, directing my avatar to move quickly, running towards enemies and<br />
then shooting them. Typically once an enemy had detected my presence - usually by
line-<strong>of</strong>-sight, they would issue an audible battle cry. I used this effect to help me locate<br />
enemies as their clear-cut computer code was better at detecting me than I was at visu-<br />
ally spotting them through the trees and so on. In particular the early levels <strong>of</strong> the game<br />
feature outdoor environment which are <strong>of</strong>ten thick with flora. The overall colour-scheme<br />
<strong>of</strong> the first level is dominated by the muted browns and greys <strong>of</strong> bark and dirt. In this en-<br />
vironment, the enemies who are local peasants or farm-workers have a natural camou-<br />
flage in their dirt encrusted clothes and skin, blending in with the bushes and trees that<br />
they hide behind. Hence I didn’t depend on my unreliable visual sense very strongly, but<br />
rather found that by running I would quickly alert the enemies to my presence, and then<br />
once they had alerted me to their presence I stop moving and just wait for them to ap-<br />
proach me.<br />
Perhaps unsurprisingly this tactic didn’t work very well for very long. There are plenty <strong>of</strong><br />
occasions in the game where enemies don’t announce themselves like this, but rather<br />
silently stalk the player or jump out from around a corner, in classic horror style. As a<br />
result <strong>of</strong> one too many such scares I compromised my style and began to move more<br />
slowly and carefully in order to find enemies before they found me. As ammunition is<br />
scare in this game, it is preferable to dispatch adversaries safely from a distance and<br />
with a single shot to the head rather than engage in a confused, fast-paced gun battle at<br />
close distance.<br />
Page 19 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
After some time <strong>of</strong> playing like this I noticed that something quite remarkable had oc-<br />
curred in the way I was sensing the presence <strong>of</strong> enemy characters. Without consciously<br />
being aware <strong>of</strong> it, I had adapted to visual and physical feedback from the Wiimote and<br />
was using this to augment my slower, and more deliberate approach. In normal play,
when the “B” button is pressed on the Wiimote a green targeting reticule appears at the<br />
location on the television screen pointed at with the controller. If the controller is moved<br />
to point at a part <strong>of</strong> the screen where an enemy is then the reticule turns red, and a<br />
slight vibration issues from the controller. This visual and haptic feedback cues the<br />
player into the location <strong>of</strong> an enemy even when they hadn’t previously seen them. Al-<br />
though this feedback was subtle enough for me not to notice initially, I had begun to<br />
adapt my style <strong>of</strong> play be reliant upon it. When I entered a new location, especially if it<br />
were dark, foggy or obfuscated by trees and so on, I would stop my avatar from moving,<br />
activate my targeting reticule and scan the Wiimote left and right, up and down across<br />
the television screen. There is a pleasing parallel <strong>of</strong> the scan lines <strong>of</strong> the cathode ray<br />
tube streaming electrons onto the screen, and my scanning <strong>of</strong> the same screen space<br />
with a similar motion <strong>of</strong> the Wiimote. I realised that I was using the gun as a sensing de-<br />
vice, and this is an exemplary case <strong>of</strong> the way that human bodily senses are modified<br />
during game play. In order to understand this process is more detail, the following chap-<br />
ter discusses one <strong>of</strong> the defining characteristics <strong>of</strong> video game play, interaction, and the<br />
ways in which we become configured by it.<br />
Page 20 <strong>of</strong> 69
Interaction and Configuration<br />
“Soon you will be unable to resist this intoxicating power!”<br />
-Osmund Saddler, principle antagonist <strong>of</strong> RE4<br />
During play, the actual physical body is implicated as central to bringing about interac-<br />
tion. Furthermore as bodily senses are extended to construct a hybrid human/machine<br />
cyborg, the body is doubled and virtualised in the course <strong>of</strong> interacting with the virtual<br />
environment. Our sense <strong>of</strong> presence in the virtual world reconfigures Merleau-Ponty’s<br />
“being-in-the-world” as additionally “being-in-the-virtual-world”. That is, we adapt our<br />
bodily senses through the physical peripheral devices such as controller and screen, in<br />
order to attend to what Merleau-Ponty described as our “projects” which occur in the vir-<br />
tual environment. This bodily interaction with virtual projects is the subject <strong>of</strong> the current<br />
chapter.<br />
While examining a cinematic virtual train ride in which our eyes metonymically represent<br />
the body situated in the virtual environment, Huhtamo (1995) notes that there is a com-<br />
promise involved in the movement from actual to virtual space; the body is simultane-<br />
ously freed form its normal constraints while at the same time coming under the pre-<br />
recorded control <strong>of</strong> the camera-as-spectator. This represents a complication <strong>of</strong> the tradi-<br />
tional division between spectator and author which is even more powerful in video<br />
Page 21 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
games where the player is allowed to actively participate in a new world, but only on the<br />
machine’s terms. Involving the user in the ergodic production <strong>of</strong> a text raises questions
<strong>of</strong> authorship and put into doubt existing media theories that assume a consistent, static<br />
text body and the authority <strong>of</strong> a coherent author. It can be argued that all <strong>of</strong> our medi-<br />
ated relationships are interactive in the act <strong>of</strong> interpretation and that we do not neces-<br />
sarily passively consume the original, intended meaning (Manovich 2001; Aarseth<br />
2003). Dovey and Kennedy (2006) argue, however, that gameplay consists not only <strong>of</strong><br />
interpretative activity but additionally requires a unique form <strong>of</strong> action in order for the<br />
game to come into being.<br />
Narrative in game studies has typically been concerned with discussions <strong>of</strong> interpreta-<br />
tive rather than embodied pleasures (Ryan, 2005), and has proved to be controversial in<br />
regard to ludological pleasures <strong>of</strong> gameplay due to the impact interactivity can have,<br />
“... in literary matters, interactivity conflicts either with immersion or with aesthetic<br />
design, and usually with both.” 5<br />
Providing the player the option to influence an unfolding story is a complex and unpre-<br />
dictable demand on narratives which are typically static and authored by a single voice.<br />
Indeed, requiring the player to act in order for gameplay to take place can in itself dis-<br />
tract the player from the traditional pleasures <strong>of</strong> non-interactive reception. That is to say<br />
that traditional models for the reception and consumption <strong>of</strong> narrative cannot be naïvely<br />
applied where interactive videogames are involved, but a rather more nuanced ap-<br />
proach attentive to the specificity <strong>of</strong> the medium is required.<br />
Page 22 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Newman (2002) proposes an "interactive continuum", ranging from fully interactive ("on-<br />
line") to non-interactive ("<strong>of</strong>f-line"), with degrees <strong>of</strong> partial interactivity in between. Im-<br />
5 Ryan, Marie-Laure. Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic<br />
Media. (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins <strong>University</strong> Press, 1991).
portantly on-line play deals with immersion and a sense <strong>of</strong> presence in the game rather<br />
than the "detached and critical contemplation <strong>of</strong> complex narrative" in <strong>of</strong>f-line experi-<br />
ences. The aesthetics <strong>of</strong> on-line gameplay are both interactive and immersive, but this<br />
results in a very different type <strong>of</strong> immersion.<br />
RE4 exhibits a complex continuum <strong>of</strong> interactivity. During normal on-line play there is no<br />
attempt at conventional narrative per se. This would correlate well with Grodal’s (2003)<br />
assertion that action-based games stimulate emotions from the sympathetic nervous<br />
system, which are incompatible with contemplative narrative consumption. There are<br />
numerous cutscenes throughout the game, and due to my familiarity with the conven-<br />
tions <strong>of</strong> video games - and their remediation <strong>of</strong> film - I had expected these to be <strong>of</strong>f-line,<br />
non-interactive sections during which I could sit back and enjoy watching the story un-<br />
fold. This is generally the case but I was shocked to find that fairly <strong>of</strong>ten I would be re-<br />
quired to react to events in the cutscenes. This is not without precedent in video game<br />
history, most typically exemplified and popularised by Shenmue’s 6 “Quick Timer Events”<br />
in 1999, and arguably even further back to 1983 with the pioneering interactive movie /<br />
arcade game Dragon’s Lair 7 .<br />
Page 23 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
As I began to play RE4 I brought with me certain assumptions about video game aes-<br />
thetics. Of interest here is the convention that Newman describes as <strong>of</strong>f-line and on-line,<br />
which in most games is clearly delineated. For example, during <strong>of</strong>f-line cutscenes where<br />
the player is not expected to interact it is typical to observe a stylistic change in the<br />
game’s presentation. Often this is indicated by the absence <strong>of</strong> HUD (non-diegetic ele-<br />
6 Shenmue. Sega-AM2. (Sega, 1999). Dreamcast.<br />
7 Dragon’s Lair. Advanced Microcomputer Systems. (Cinematronics, 1983). Arcade.
ments displaying the player character’s state such as health, ammunition and score),<br />
and by presenting the display in letterbox format, remediating an artefact <strong>of</strong> displaying<br />
widescreen film on standard sized television. In order for the original aspect ratio <strong>of</strong> 16:9<br />
to be preserved on a standard television set’s 4:3 frame, the image is rendered across<br />
the horizontal width as normal, but sections at the top and bottom <strong>of</strong> the display are left<br />
blank, resembling a<br />
letterbox. These conventions<br />
are not conformed to by RE4<br />
which caused me some<br />
problems early on. During<br />
the game’s intro I was re-<br />
laxed, reclining in my chair<br />
as I recognised certain con-<br />
ventions indicating that the<br />
sequence I was watching was a non-interactive, or <strong>of</strong>f-line piece. This mode <strong>of</strong> con-<br />
sumption is very similar to watching a film, so I could allow my attention to be absorbed<br />
by the images without having to actively concern myself with my relation to it. The cine-<br />
matography framed the characters on screen in a dramatic way, with a mixture <strong>of</strong> estab-<br />
lishing shots, close-ups, shot reverse shot, etc. However as soon as the camera cut to a<br />
third-person view from behind and above Leon’s shoulder I immediately sat up and<br />
found myself leaning slightly forward, much more aware <strong>of</strong> holding the Wiimote control-<br />
ler as I recognised this change <strong>of</strong> visual technique to indicate a switch to the on-line,<br />
fully interactive mode.<br />
Page 24 <strong>of</strong> 69
Later in the game after playing on-line for some time, I was again treated to an appar-<br />
ently <strong>of</strong>f-line section, signalled by a shift in camera away from the trailing position asso-<br />
ciated with on-line play. Therefore I relaxed and was ready to enjoy a conventional<br />
cinematic narrative. However, in RE4, these conventions are not followed and I was<br />
surprised to see instructions flash suddenly on the screen indicating that I had to per-<br />
form some action. In a scene<br />
reminiscent <strong>of</strong> Raiders <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Lost Ark, Leon was running<br />
away from a boulder, but rather<br />
than follow my expectations <strong>of</strong><br />
simply watching this narrative<br />
device, I was expected to ma-<br />
nipulate the Wiimote controller<br />
to enact Leon’s sprint. As I wasn’t expecting this demand and had put the controller<br />
down, Leon did not run fast<br />
enough, the boulder caught up<br />
and my game was over.<br />
After having adapted to the con-<br />
ventions <strong>of</strong> RE4, I learnt not to<br />
put the controller down, even<br />
during apparently <strong>of</strong>f-line sec-<br />
tions <strong>of</strong> the game. This had a cu-<br />
Page 25 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
rious effect on the way I experienced them. Rather than either a more conventional
cinematic reception, or a fully interactive visual mode, I found myself positioned some-<br />
where in between. The aesthetic <strong>of</strong> RE4 is an interesting example <strong>of</strong> hybrids and reme-<br />
diation which in itself would make an interesting study.<br />
To conclude my example I would like to describe an event that took place after many<br />
hours <strong>of</strong> play, when I had become thoroughly accustomed to these hybrid conventions.<br />
Before starting to play the game, a title screen is displayed with options to start a new<br />
game or load a previously saved game, amongst others. If no buttons are pressed on<br />
the Wiimote controller after a minute or so, a purely cinematic trailer for the game is<br />
shown. This is a well made montage <strong>of</strong> footage from the game which I enjoyed watch-<br />
ing. However, one section <strong>of</strong> the footage was <strong>of</strong> a hybrid on-line / cinematic cutscene in<br />
to which the player had to respond. The action was shown using conventional cinematic<br />
techniques rather than the over the shoulder view <strong>of</strong> on-line play, but an icon <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Wiimote was rendered on top <strong>of</strong> this with instructions to press “A+B”, two <strong>of</strong> the buttons<br />
on the controller. Despite this not being part <strong>of</strong> the game proper, just a completely non-<br />
interactive trailer, my hands still responded automatically to the stimulus my eyes per-<br />
ceived. When the trailer runs, any button press immediately returns the game to the<br />
normal title screen, interrupting the narrative <strong>of</strong> the trailer. I was confused and not sure<br />
how to receive the images being displayed, whether I was implicated in them bodily or<br />
not, and what my relation to the narrative was. This issue will be explored further in the<br />
chapter “Visual and <strong>Embodied</strong> Aesthetics”.<br />
Page 26 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The diversity <strong>of</strong> meanings for the term ‘interactivity’ suggests a critical aporia in current<br />
thought on the subject, but Merleau-Ponty’s (2002) notion <strong>of</strong> bodily intentionality can be
ead as a holistic approach to explaining cyborg immersion and interactivity from the ac-<br />
tual, physical body mediated by embodiment in virtual worlds. The body as being-in-<br />
itself always already exists within a relational environment, and acts towards intentional<br />
objects on that basis. When I want to drink, my arm picks up the mug and brings it to my<br />
lips without reflective thought. This is a learnt, bodily association predicated on the de-<br />
velopment <strong>of</strong> my proprioceptive sense within this environment through repetitive action.<br />
This is the most natural sense <strong>of</strong> bodily interactivity considered, and this approach with<br />
regard to embodiment within a virtual space should prove productive in the analysis <strong>of</strong><br />
my own experience <strong>of</strong> gameplay.<br />
Grodal (2003) asserts that a greater sense <strong>of</strong> interactivity is produced by more player<br />
motor action that leads to agency within a possible virtual world, which importantly<br />
places physical motor action as the basis for virtual interaction. Dovey and Kennedy<br />
(2006), meanwhile, point out that cybernetic repetition is a central aspect <strong>of</strong> gameplay<br />
unlike any other form <strong>of</strong> cultural consumption. An important aspect <strong>of</strong> such play is the<br />
notion <strong>of</strong> ideal performance, manifested to the player in a number <strong>of</strong> guises but most<br />
obviously as the “High Score”. The quantification <strong>of</strong> one performance being verifiably<br />
“better” than another is an important aspect <strong>of</strong> gaming culture, which results in the wide-<br />
spread publication <strong>of</strong> “walkthrough” and “speed run” guides detailing the steps required<br />
to complete the game with maximum efficiency. Furthermore the very structure <strong>of</strong><br />
Page 27 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
gameplay consists <strong>of</strong> what is essentially repetitive action through increasingly challeng-<br />
ing scenarios. The actions central to RE4 are navigation through virtual space and tacti-<br />
cal combat, most <strong>of</strong>ten shooting. It is telling that at the end <strong>of</strong> each chapter in the game<br />
the player is presented with a screen showing a breakdown <strong>of</strong> statistical data compiled
during play. The categories are “Hit Ratio” (the percentage <strong>of</strong> shots fired by the player<br />
which hit enemies), “Enemies Killed”, “Number <strong>of</strong> Times Killed”, and upon completing<br />
the entire game “Clear Time” (entire duration <strong>of</strong> gameplay) and “Number <strong>of</strong> Saves”. The<br />
periodic presentation <strong>of</strong> these statistics implies to the player a sense <strong>of</strong> the values the<br />
game makes <strong>of</strong> the player’s performance. This is further exacerbated by the large num-<br />
ber <strong>of</strong> features which are only available to players who achieve particularly outstanding<br />
performances.<br />
Page 28 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
My initial clear time was around thirty five hours on the normal difficulty setting - some-<br />
what more than commonly reported by other players. After increasing the difficulty set-<br />
ting to “Pro” my clear time actually decreased to twenty five hours. After the initial thirty<br />
five hours <strong>of</strong> play, my increased familiarity with the spatial tactics <strong>of</strong> the game, ‘feel’ for<br />
my avatar, and knowledge <strong>of</strong> solutions to puzzles presumably amortised the increase in<br />
difficulty and so allowed me to complete the game faster than initially. The only differ-<br />
ence in difficulty that I could identify was that enemies required more damage to dis-<br />
patch than previously, which demanded more accurate shooting as ammunition in the<br />
game is scarce so conservation is vital. After completing all difficulty settings and all<br />
mini-games, certain special weapons were unlocked which radically changed the expe-<br />
rience <strong>of</strong> the game, resulting in my final clear time <strong>of</strong> just six hours. In particular the<br />
“Hand Cannon”, “Infinite Launcher” and “Chicago Typewriter” all deliver extremely pow-<br />
erful shots and do not require ammunition, thus undermining several core aspects to the<br />
game. With these weapons incorporated into my bodily capability, enemies were re-<br />
duced to a caricature <strong>of</strong> their previous significance. While they remained a threat as<br />
they could still shoot and kill my avatar, in practice my previous play had taught me to
target and shoot so well that I could easily dispatch even large crowds <strong>of</strong> enemies<br />
quickly and easily without serious danger.<br />
Page 29 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Indeed the most striking effect was that other unconventional aspects <strong>of</strong> the game be-<br />
came more critical to my progress. In particular the Quick Timer Events (QTE) became<br />
the key focus <strong>of</strong> my latter gameplay. With the main embodied experiences <strong>of</strong> strategic<br />
navigation and tactical combat mastered by way <strong>of</strong> repetitive training and the incorpora-<br />
tion into my avatar <strong>of</strong> powerful weapon capabilities, the only real challenge was in the<br />
special cases <strong>of</strong> QTEs. These events are distinct from the regular gameplay experience<br />
as they lack the normal sense <strong>of</strong> on-line interactive embodiment. This is signalled by a<br />
change in camera angle, the presentation <strong>of</strong> on-screen instructions, and a change in the<br />
style <strong>of</strong> gameplay and interface. Rather than being immersed by my interactive avatarial<br />
presence in a 3D environment, QTEs are characterised by a more cinematic spectacle,<br />
augmented with tests <strong>of</strong> pure reflex lacking a fully interactive avatar. That is, while the<br />
avatar is represented onscreen, even when using the same character model, this is not<br />
strictly an avatar as I am not in bodily control <strong>of</strong> it. The aesthetics <strong>of</strong> QTEs are closer to<br />
those <strong>of</strong> interactive hypertext than to on-line video games. Thus, while most <strong>of</strong> my thirty<br />
five hours <strong>of</strong> training was in repetitive embodied actions, the infrequency and disjointed<br />
nature <strong>of</strong> the QTEs prevented me from adapting to them as part <strong>of</strong> the overall gameplay<br />
experience. It was only when I ‘primed’ myself to expect a QTE that I was competently<br />
capable <strong>of</strong> success. In this mode I would remember when QTEs were scripted to occur<br />
and so pull my attention away from the relaxed consumption <strong>of</strong> cinematic cutscene or<br />
the immersive presence <strong>of</strong> embodied gameplay. I would shift to a third state in the inter-
active continuum: alert to certain specific icons at the expense <strong>of</strong> both narrative and<br />
embodiment.<br />
This tri-state <strong>of</strong> interactivity suggests to me both the false dichotomy between narratol-<br />
ogy and ludology, and the inappropriateness <strong>of</strong> framing interactivity as a continuum.<br />
During my play I felt these states to be quite distinct and would not be able to quantify<br />
their degree <strong>of</strong> interactivity relative to one another as position along a unified continuum.<br />
Furthermore the transition from one to the other was not smooth and gradual, but a hard<br />
cut, literalised by the sudden, imperative flash <strong>of</strong> an icon on-screen, or the cut in camera<br />
position and style.<br />
I would go as far as to suggest that each <strong>of</strong> these states has its own particular aesthetic,<br />
and that the central concern <strong>of</strong> this current paper is to explore the aesthetics <strong>of</strong> em-<br />
bodiment which is currently a dominant mode <strong>of</strong> game play. Ludology has provided a<br />
great deal <strong>of</strong> material with which to consider game-like elements, and narratology con-<br />
tinues in the great tradition <strong>of</strong> narrative analysis, but I argue that a more detailed con-<br />
sideration <strong>of</strong> embodiment is necessary to open up game studies in a productive third<br />
direction.<br />
Page 30 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Dovey and Kennedy (2002) recognise that while the repetitive type <strong>of</strong> interactivity is ex-<br />
ceptional in video game play, it is not without precedent in other forms <strong>of</strong> performance<br />
such as the "virtuosity" in sports and music which are both highly dependent upon re-<br />
petitive, physical training. They mention that Quake players describe their performance<br />
with terms that would not be out <strong>of</strong> place in the martial arts or ballet, such as 'athleti-<br />
cism', 'balance' and 'coordination' (2006: 115). Indeed they emphasise that it is the
physical body <strong>of</strong> the player (such as manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination) that is<br />
being trained to conform to the game's preferred performance (2006: 110). Similarly<br />
Murray (1997: 153) talks <strong>of</strong> the game designer as constructing a choreographic context,<br />
within which the player becomes an improvisational dancer.<br />
Grodal also observers that one's sense <strong>of</strong> interactivity is not fixed, but rather varies with<br />
time and ability. He contends that players’ sense <strong>of</strong> what he calls “agency” will become<br />
diminished as their activity becomes habitual, and their awareness <strong>of</strong> their role in the<br />
world is more as an automatic mechanism responding to stimuli in the optimal way. That<br />
is, his use <strong>of</strong> the term “agency” is related not to interactivity generally, but rather refers<br />
to a sense <strong>of</strong> reflective, conscious intentionality. Hence, as the player’s performance<br />
improves, their actions become more physically instinctive, rather than cognitive as<br />
there is less need to reflect on the unfolding <strong>of</strong> each scenario. The extensive amount <strong>of</strong><br />
repetition involved has physically trained the player to respond in a pre-reflective, bodily<br />
manner. He contends that in the final, automatic stage <strong>of</strong> gameplay mastery, one's im-<br />
mersion is at its peak and is "trancelike" due to the sophisticated neuronal reconfigura-<br />
tion between perception, emotion, and motor action, which he describes as “desensiti-<br />
sation by habituation”. It is important to clarify particularly that this desensitisation is only<br />
related to the automatic motor function within the current virtual environment, and does<br />
not address issues <strong>of</strong> desensitisation to violent visual stimuli, for instance. It is rather the<br />
“habit” <strong>of</strong> moving in and around space that Benjamin comments on with regard to archi-<br />
tecture,<br />
... buildings are appropriated in a tw<strong>of</strong>old manner: ... by touch and by sight....<br />
On the tactile side there is no counterpart to contemplation on the optical<br />
Page 31 <strong>of</strong> 69
side. Tactile appropriation is accomplished not so much by attention as by<br />
habit. 8<br />
Elsewhere (White, 2007) I have addressed Penny’s (2004) attempts to work through<br />
what this habitual training means for the player, with particular interest in whether violent<br />
video game play can train a player to automatically respond with violence to stimuli in<br />
the real world. His work also attends to issues <strong>of</strong> bodily action in interactive entertain-<br />
ment, with a particular concern that traditional critiques <strong>of</strong> visual representation are in-<br />
capable <strong>of</strong> addressing issues involved where physical bodily action can produce corre-<br />
sponding visual effects. Referring to Foucault (1977), Marcel Mauss (1973) and Pierre<br />
Bordieu (1977), Penny points out a variety <strong>of</strong> situations which make use <strong>of</strong> the repetition<br />
<strong>of</strong> physical action as a form <strong>of</strong> training, not only intentionally as a way to control the<br />
body (as in martial arts, yoga and football), but also in the way that social behaviours<br />
are subconsciously adopted, and further argues that sports and military training are both<br />
"anti-intellectual" in the sense that such training is only effective once it has been as-<br />
similated into the body rather than the mind.<br />
The principal archaeology invoked in his work is in US military technology, following the<br />
development <strong>of</strong> DARPA's VR simulation engines from the 1980s through the 1990s and<br />
relating it to corresponding developments occurring contemporaneously within the<br />
Page 32 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
games industry. He also points out that the U.S. military licensed Id S<strong>of</strong>tware's Doom as<br />
a "tactical training tool" (p. 75) and the U.S. Navy's use <strong>of</strong> The Sims to "model the or-<br />
ganisation <strong>of</strong> terrorist cells" (p. 76). However, despite showing the shared history and<br />
8 Benjamin, Walter. The work <strong>of</strong> art in the age <strong>of</strong> mechanical reproduction. (1936).<br />
(Last accessed 29th June<br />
2007).
similarities between military simulation training and video game play, Penny fails to take<br />
into account their differences. In particular the hyper-mediation <strong>of</strong> modern push-button<br />
warfare is in many respects indistinguishable from its simulation. I contend that bodily<br />
intentionality in real life and the virtual environments <strong>of</strong> video games are too different<br />
from one another to complete the chain <strong>of</strong> perception, emotion, cognition and physical<br />
motor action necessary to enact trained stimulus-response, and that furthermore the<br />
player maintains an awareness and critical distance to their actions which frames a dis-<br />
tinction between real life and gameplay, a distinction missing from the level <strong>of</strong> serious<br />
commitment brought to military training (White, 2007).<br />
Lahti uses language reminiscent <strong>of</strong> McLuhan when he observes that action based<br />
Page 33 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
games train us through repetition in a manner similar to industrial work: we become<br />
automatons with a "prosthetic memory" (2003: 166). This fits well with Merleau-Ponty's<br />
description <strong>of</strong> the habitual body as site for the accumulation <strong>of</strong> bodily experience. It is<br />
literally "muscle memory", and in the case <strong>of</strong> virtual embodiment this becomes cyborg or<br />
prosthetic memory; our physical muscles become attuned to technological devices such<br />
as game controllers, which act as the prosthetic link between the physical, actual body,<br />
and the virtual world from within which originates the stimuli we physically respond to.<br />
Friedman (1999) describes how this affects not only our bodies, but - also in tune with<br />
McLuhan's notion <strong>of</strong> consciousness being determined by sense-ratios - our minds. In a<br />
cybernetic relation we develop "cyborg consciousness". This is a clear example <strong>of</strong> the<br />
issues Heidegger (1954) was concerned with, the instrumentality <strong>of</strong> technology and its<br />
surreptitious effect upon the way we live our lives. Poster (2002) argues that our every-
day experience <strong>of</strong> being is now distributed and connected with machines and other hu-<br />
mans through technologies such as the internet. As such this is phenomenologically<br />
novel and distinct from the experience with technology that Heidegger describes. The<br />
current imbrication <strong>of</strong> human and technological is a new form <strong>of</strong> hybrid participation<br />
rather than the earlier surreptitious, mechanised control <strong>of</strong> Heidegger’s dystopian fears.<br />
Indeed, Gee (2004) argues that games force us to learn and adapt through interaction,<br />
and as such train us to become active rather than passive in our modern, rapidly chang-<br />
ing lives, literally to become actors. As has been discussed earlier, through repetitive<br />
physical motor action, games can establish automatic stimulus-response reactions<br />
within the limited confines <strong>of</strong> their specific space, but more generally their requirement<br />
<strong>of</strong> interactivity encourages game players to maintain an attitude <strong>of</strong> curiosity and experi-<br />
mentation based upon their active engagement with media.<br />
Interactivity and the player character’s agency are tightly associated with an embodied<br />
presence in a virtual world. The notions <strong>of</strong> the cyborg and Merleau-Ponty’s phenome-<br />
nology suggests ways to theorise and reconcile these in terms <strong>of</strong> virtual bodily inten-<br />
tionality.<br />
Page 34 <strong>of</strong> 69
Space<br />
“The defining element in video games is spatiality” 9<br />
A number <strong>of</strong> theorists have approached an analysis <strong>of</strong> video games with an attention to<br />
space (Aarseth 1998, Babeux 2005, Buckley 2004, Miklaucic 2006, Taylor 2005), and<br />
this proves to be particularly relevant for an understanding <strong>of</strong> gameplay in RE4.<br />
Merleau-Ponty shows that subjectivity manifests as a result <strong>of</strong> a spatially situated body,<br />
and that our relationships to the world and other entities are predicated upon this em-<br />
bodied nature (2002). When playing RE4, the avatar is the vehicle <strong>of</strong> the player’s em-<br />
bodiment within the virtual space <strong>of</strong> the game, and the spatial dimensions <strong>of</strong> the game<br />
are the environment in which the cyborg player / avatar is situated. A particularly inter-<br />
esting quality <strong>of</strong> RE4 is that some <strong>of</strong> the game’s topography is experienced in a number<br />
<strong>of</strong> different contexts, and through several different avatars. The main game environment<br />
is shared between Leon, Ada and Ashley, with some unique areas only accessible to<br />
each individual character, but the “Mercenaries” mini-game is a particularly interesting<br />
exercise in spatial gameplay. In this mode <strong>of</strong> play only four levels <strong>of</strong> the game are ac-<br />
cessible: the pueblo village, castle, mountainside, and water island. Gaming website<br />
IGN provide guides for each <strong>of</strong> these locations, and their strategies are all described in<br />
spatial terms:<br />
Page 35 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Pueblo ... Speed is the key to survival in this stage. Run to the south end <strong>of</strong><br />
the village and shoot any enemies from there. After a few seconds, run to the<br />
9 Aarseth, Espen J. Allegories <strong>of</strong> Space: The Question <strong>of</strong> Spatiality in Computer Games. (<strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
Bergen, 18th May 1998)
north end <strong>of</strong> the village and do the same tactic. Running north to south and<br />
vice versa keeps the crazed villagers from surrounding you.<br />
Castle ... Distance is the key to survival in this area. Run from one end <strong>of</strong> the<br />
area and turn around. Shoot all enemies in the way and head for the other<br />
end. When running up stairs be cautious because enemies will appear out <strong>of</strong><br />
nowhere and ambush you.<br />
Mountainside ... Height is the biggest key to survival here. Shoot anybody<br />
from either the top <strong>of</strong> the towers or from the ground. Each time you approach<br />
an excavated tunnel; you will encounter more enemies so be on your guard.<br />
When enemies climb ladders or jump down from high ledges, take a shot!<br />
Water Island ... You'll have to combine Height and Distance to kill your foes in<br />
this stage. Shoot everyone that climbs up the ladders and shoot everyone<br />
that is standing on the opposite ro<strong>of</strong>. When on the ground, keep evasive and<br />
run from one end to another while shooting those in the way. 10<br />
(emphasis my own)<br />
These four levels are intended to be played over and over again with five different ava-<br />
tars (Leon, Ada, Jack, HUNK, Wesker). Playing the same level against the same adver-<br />
saries but with different player avatars emphasises the unique relationship between<br />
avatar and world. Despite using such a limited environment, the game remains interest-<br />
ing throughout these prolonged play sessions precisely because it is an exercise in spa-<br />
tially embodied player agency. Playing as a variety <strong>of</strong> avatars in exactly the same envi-<br />
ronment allows the player to explore the diversity <strong>of</strong> meanings this space can have for<br />
each different character. The game has such great replay value because each avatar<br />
presents the player with a new bodily intentionality to the environment.<br />
10 VampireHorde, “Resident <strong>Evil</strong> 4 Mercenaries Mode FAQ”. (IGN, 31st January 2005)<br />
(Last accessed 15th July 2007).<br />
Page 36 <strong>of</strong> 69
Even when playing with a single, consistent avatar, it’s interesting to consider the<br />
changing ways in which space is experienced. At the start <strong>of</strong> each level the first thing I<br />
usually did was examine the game map, which is a simplified, overhead plan <strong>of</strong> the<br />
principal structures and doorways in the level. It shows the location <strong>of</strong> certain special<br />
areas where you can save the game or upgrade weapons as well as indicating the des-<br />
tination that the player must reach in order to progress to the next level. I used this map<br />
to orient myself in the space, to get an idea <strong>of</strong> where I was in relation to the other impor-<br />
tant features, and so to identify in which direction I should proceed.<br />
Tuan (1977) provides some useful terminology for understanding my different experi-<br />
ences <strong>of</strong> space. This first example <strong>of</strong> examining the map is what he calls “spatial knowl-<br />
edge” and is purely cognitive as it has not been assimilated into the moving body as<br />
“spatial experience”. As I entered each new environment (a room or level in RE4 for ex-<br />
ample), I began by visually examining its appearance, trying to locate significant entities<br />
such as enemies and treasure, and also in an attempt to situate my embodied presence<br />
within that environment through my bodily senses.<br />
Page 37 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Audio cues also play a role in this, but from my own personal experience I found them<br />
to be unreliable; my impression was <strong>of</strong>ten that I misinterpreted the location <strong>of</strong> enemies<br />
when I judged this purely based on the sounds they made. Whether this was due to the<br />
particular set-up <strong>of</strong> my audio equipment or the positional-audio technologies used in the<br />
game I can’t say. 3D games usually make use <strong>of</strong> 3D environmental audio which trans-<br />
form audio samples based on the relative location <strong>of</strong> source and player. For example, a<br />
sound that originates far away from the player will result in the sample being played
more quietly and perhaps with additional sound filters (such as echo, reverb, or Doppler<br />
shift) to give the impression <strong>of</strong> the environment within which it is heard. In my subjective<br />
evaluation, it sounded to me that RE4 does not physically modulate audio based on lo-<br />
cal environmental geometry. Specifically an enemy standing behind a door or even a<br />
concrete wall would sound the same as one equidistant to me, but without physical ob-<br />
stacles in the way.<br />
After having familiarised myself visually and aurally with the new environment I would<br />
proceed to move around within it in order to experience the space from a variety <strong>of</strong> dif-<br />
ferent perspectives. By moving around the same audio/visual stimuli I was able to build<br />
up a better mental model <strong>of</strong> what they were and where they were located. As Merleau-<br />
Ponty shows, motility is a key component <strong>of</strong> spatially situated subjectivity (2002: 112 -<br />
170), and this is especially important when viewing a 3D environment projected onto the<br />
2D space <strong>of</strong> a television screen, as demonstrated by numerous optical illusions such as<br />
the “Necker Cube” 11 . Initially it can be difficult to<br />
identify what a static object is, especially with the<br />
monocular two dimensional vision rendered onto a<br />
flat television screen. By shifting location we see<br />
the same object from a variety <strong>of</strong> perspectives and<br />
so build a more comprehensive, pre-reflective im-<br />
pression <strong>of</strong> the object.<br />
This initial mode <strong>of</strong> exploration I call tactical because<br />
Necker Cube<br />
Page 38 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
11 Objects in RE4 provide more visual clues as to structure than the Necker Cube, such as with texture<br />
and lighting, but the absence <strong>of</strong> stereoscopy and motility can still result in ambiguity.
<strong>of</strong> its military connotations. It is a detailed, highly localised mode <strong>of</strong> being where my at-<br />
tention is focussed on the immediate surroundings and senses. This military analogy is<br />
particularly apt to the subject matter <strong>of</strong> RE4, where gameplay is principally defined by<br />
combat. By moving my embodied presence around the environment I develop a sense<br />
<strong>of</strong> spatial experience, that is, I become familiar with the environment in a bodily way - I<br />
no longer need to cognitively reflect on where I am in space, but have assimilated this<br />
knowledge into my bodily experience <strong>of</strong> motility. I am capable <strong>of</strong> moving and acting with<br />
little or no reflective thought. I am immersed in a sense <strong>of</strong> being bodily present in this<br />
environment. This is no longer “space” in Tuan’s meaning <strong>of</strong> the word, an unknown area<br />
that needs to be explored, but rather has the potential to become a “place”. For Tuan<br />
this term suggests a familiarity and comfort <strong>of</strong> somewhere predictable and safe.<br />
This terminology derives from cultural geography, and so does not intentionally address<br />
the unique situation <strong>of</strong> gameplay as Tuan’s interest was in actual human life, settle-<br />
ments and the home. However, the distinction between unexplored, unknown and po-<br />
tentially hostile “space” and the known “place” is still a useful distinction to make with<br />
RE4. It would be inappropriate to describe a familiar room in the game as “homely” due<br />
to the difference in meaning between the space <strong>of</strong> a home and the space in the game.<br />
In particular as Aarseth (1998) suggests, the use <strong>of</strong> space in RE4 is defined by the<br />
terms <strong>of</strong> the game design, whereas the use <strong>of</strong> space in the home is defined by the<br />
Page 39 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
terms <strong>of</strong> domesticity and social rules. Space in the home <strong>of</strong>ten has meaning defined by<br />
familiarity and comfort, but space in RE4 is only meaningful as a means to play, so that<br />
when the possibilities for play have been exhausted, the space becomes no longer<br />
meaningful. My tactical exploration <strong>of</strong> a potentially new, hostile space is meaningful as it
has implications for my continued pleasure in playing the game. As I explained earlier,<br />
my initial tactic <strong>of</strong> running head-first through the game resulted in my avatar being killed<br />
too <strong>of</strong>ten so it was necessary to adapt to a slower and more cautious approach. This<br />
change in style was determined by gameplay considerations - in order to play and pro-<br />
gress successfully through the game it was necessary to respect the potential danger <strong>of</strong><br />
the space. Once enemies have been killed the space loses its threat, but also its signifi-<br />
cance. As gameplay is predicated on a certain degree <strong>of</strong> interaction, once the significant<br />
interactive elements (i.e., the enemy characters) have been removed there is little left to<br />
enjoy in play.<br />
Page 40 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
During one part <strong>of</strong> the game while playing as Ada in the pueblo village I became unsure<br />
<strong>of</strong> how to proceed. I had killed all <strong>of</strong> the enemies in the current location, but could not<br />
see any unlocked exits on my map. Often the trail <strong>of</strong> new enemies leads the player to<br />
their next location, but in this case that didn’t seem to be the case. I’d made a point <strong>of</strong><br />
exploring the area to be sure that there were no enemies left, and hence no parts <strong>of</strong> the<br />
space that might prove to be significant in gameplay terms. The village was empty, there<br />
was nothing to do, no clues as how to proceed. Clearly I was missing something. The<br />
only possibility I could imagine was that there would be a key <strong>of</strong> some sort in the village<br />
somewhere, but I simply hadn’t found it yet. Treasure such as keys are normally ex-<br />
tremely easy to spot as they’re displayed with a glowing halo or sparkle in bright, artifi-<br />
cial colours that contrast well against the muted, natural tones <strong>of</strong> the background. I was<br />
therefore quite sure that if a key was here, then it wasn’t simply something to be picked<br />
up like normal treasure. The only alternative was that I had to do something in order to<br />
receive the key. I quickly ran around the area again, but this time trying to interact with
objects I wouldn’t normally think <strong>of</strong> as meaningful. Often when the player avatar ap-<br />
proaches a cupboard or other container a message will appear on the screen indicating<br />
that the object can be opened, and usually some treasure will be found inside. There-<br />
fore I set to running through the village, close to all <strong>of</strong> the visible geometry I could ap-<br />
proach. While doing this I noticed other objects that I hadn’t considered interacting with<br />
before. Particularly in the pueblo village there are autonomous farmyard animals such<br />
as cows and chickens, which are normally just in the background and incidental to the<br />
game. I realised that I could attack and kill them, and that this was another potential<br />
form <strong>of</strong> gameplay significance that could help me to progress through the level. In the<br />
village this approach did not actually help directly - it eventually turned out that I had<br />
simply not approached the right object previously - it did make a difference later on in<br />
the game. I discovered that if I shot the crows that dotted some <strong>of</strong> the levels, they would<br />
- inexplicably - drop treasure when they died.<br />
Perhaps the most important factor for arguing that levels in RE4, even when emptied <strong>of</strong><br />
adversaries and incidental animals, cannot be described as “place” is that they no<br />
Page 41 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
longer have meaning for the player. There is literally nothing left to interact with in a<br />
‘completed’ level, no treasure to collect, no enemies to overcome, no reason to navigate<br />
the topography. The exception to this might be those locations where a friendly mer-<br />
chant can be found. Whenever I was playing and came across one <strong>of</strong> these locations I<br />
felt relieved because this place meant a break from combat and a chance to refresh my<br />
inventory. Levels in RE4 are constructed into discrete sections which appear continuous<br />
on the overhead map, but which in practice are separated from one another by internal<br />
doors. Most doors in the game swing open when the avatar pushes them, but doors
which divide the level into their constituent sections are not shown to open. Rather<br />
when the player approaches them and presses the button to open the door, the screen<br />
fades to black, there is a short pause during which time the new section is loaded, and<br />
the game resumes on the other side <strong>of</strong> the (closed) door. Enemies never pass through<br />
such doors. Usually when the player comes across a merchant he is in his own small<br />
section <strong>of</strong> the level in which enemies are absent. This is the material basis for which the<br />
merchant areas could be considered “place”.<br />
Page 42 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The corollary to my tactical mode <strong>of</strong> exploring unfamiliar space is a strategic mode <strong>of</strong><br />
moving through the familiar. Typically in the game I would progress through the sections<br />
<strong>of</strong> a level in a relatively linear fashion towards the goal or destination. Sometimes it<br />
would not be necessary to explore the whole level in order to progress to the next one,<br />
but there are certain benefits to doing so. In particular the chance to collect more treas-<br />
ure or ammunition which could be useful in latter parts <strong>of</strong> the game. In such cases I<br />
would likely have to return through areas I’d previously explored in order to get to a door<br />
that I’d initially overlooked but which I’d subsequently identified on my map. I would<br />
need to move from my present location through areas that I had already explored and to<br />
a certain degree assimilated into my bodily experience, and from which I’d already dis-<br />
patched all enemies. This mode <strong>of</strong> movement is no longer the slow, careful, analytical<br />
and tactical exploration, but rather a high-level, cognitive plan <strong>of</strong> action composed <strong>of</strong><br />
rough structures (rooms) and their connecting points (doors). It is an exercise in navi-<br />
gating through a network <strong>of</strong> nodes and lines, or in other words, a map. I call this mode<br />
<strong>of</strong> movement “strategic”, again with the military connotations <strong>of</strong> long-term or overall<br />
planning. This mode makes extensive use <strong>of</strong> my spatial knowledge, literally represented
y the overhead map. However my embodied presence still has to move through the<br />
intervening space and I have to negotiate the particular features <strong>of</strong> the world that I en-<br />
counter along the way, such as doors and paths. My attention in this process is a com-<br />
bination <strong>of</strong> visual analysis and cognitive planning. I would typically begin by examining<br />
the overhead map to orient myself and construct a mental plan <strong>of</strong> action, which could be<br />
verbalised something like this:<br />
“Go through the door which is ahead and slightly to the left <strong>of</strong> my present location.<br />
Follow the corridor regardless <strong>of</strong> which directions it winds. At then end<br />
there is another door to go through. After that turn right and head straight<br />
ahead, then take the second door on the left.”<br />
Once I’d completed this small section <strong>of</strong> my plan I would examine the overhead map<br />
again to verify I had reached the intermediate point I’d intended, and construct a plan for<br />
the next few steps <strong>of</strong> my strategy. While executing this plan I would not be consciously<br />
looking for enemies or treasure as I had already dealt with all <strong>of</strong> them during my initial<br />
tactical exploration. Instead I would see the space only in terms <strong>of</strong> features pertinent to<br />
my current plan, i.e., doors and paths.<br />
Page 43 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Babeux (2005) uses the terminology <strong>of</strong> tactic and strategy to consider the relationship <strong>of</strong><br />
player to space in a variety <strong>of</strong> games, appropriated from De Certeau's (1990) analysis <strong>of</strong><br />
the repetitive and unconscious practices involved in everyday life, and in particular in<br />
the navigation <strong>of</strong> urban cityscapes. Babeux suggests that the player attempts to regain<br />
a tactical control <strong>of</strong> space from the game designer, manifested in the layout and con-<br />
tents <strong>of</strong> the environment. The creative play that takes places in this process occurs in<br />
the liminal space between real and virtual, and it is in the tactical re-appropriation <strong>of</strong>
space that the player expresses their self and makes the space their own. Indeed, in<br />
Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, it is the space between the body and the world that<br />
allows communication to occur between the two, from which derives our sense <strong>of</strong> being-<br />
in-the-world.<br />
In addition to De Certeau (1990) and Tuan (1977), Lefebvre (1991) and Soja (1996)<br />
provide some other useful terminology for understanding the space <strong>of</strong> video games<br />
(Taylor 2005, Buckley 2004, Miklaucic 2006).<br />
Lefebvre talks about “spatial practice” as the material or sensorial qualities <strong>of</strong> space and<br />
the people and practices that construct and use it, which in Soja’s scheme corresponds<br />
to “Firstspace”. Lefebvre’s “representation <strong>of</strong> space” or “represented space” is the ab-<br />
stract plan or cognitive knowledge <strong>of</strong> a space, correlating with Soja’s “Secondspace”.<br />
Both <strong>of</strong> these forms, the material and the abstract, come together in a meaningful way<br />
as “spaces <strong>of</strong> representation” or “spatial representation” in a “Thirdspace” which is lived,<br />
experiential space.<br />
Page 44 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Buckley (2004) uses Lefebvre and Soja's terminology to reflect on the use <strong>of</strong> space in<br />
Myst and Tetris. He identifies Myst mostly as a game <strong>of</strong> Firstspace due to its emphasis<br />
on visual , navigable exploration, and Tetris mostly as a game <strong>of</strong> Secondspace by its<br />
use <strong>of</strong> abstract or conceptual space. He notes, however, that neither <strong>of</strong> these games<br />
deal exclusively with either one or the other spaces, but observes that it is through the<br />
conjunction <strong>of</strong> body and game that the Thirdspace or spatial practice <strong>of</strong> gameplay oc-<br />
curs. In closing, Buckley remarks that Thirdspace is a site for contestation, paralleling
Babeux’s assertion that in the liminal space between player and game there is negotia-<br />
tion, where each attempts to impose upon the other.<br />
Congruently, Giddings (2006) discusses the temporary “event” <strong>of</strong> “videogame/play/er”,<br />
emphasising that gameplay only comes into being as a lived experience when human<br />
and non-human actors operate upon one another. While Giddings highlights the human<br />
/ non-human relationship <strong>of</strong> the ‘event’ <strong>of</strong> gameplay, my current work is more concerned<br />
with shifting the focus back to the human experiential qualities <strong>of</strong> gameplay, while ac-<br />
knowledging in the process that these are mediated by a machine. As Merleau-Ponty<br />
has shown bodily intentionality is at the core <strong>of</strong> phenomenological analysis <strong>of</strong> actual life,<br />
so too does my work attempt to show that the technologically mediated hybrid <strong>of</strong> actual<br />
and virtual bodily intentionality is at the core <strong>of</strong> my phenomenological analysis <strong>of</strong> em-<br />
bodiment in RE4.<br />
Miklaucic (2006) and Laurie Taylor (2005) both attempt to analyse space in video<br />
games with reference to Lefebvre, but furthermore pose questions about our under-<br />
standing <strong>of</strong> space in the actual world more generally. Miklaucic wonders whether games<br />
can be considered as cognitive maps which help us to understand our location in the<br />
complex, postmodern world. He concludes, however, that the hypermediated,<br />
information-centric interface <strong>of</strong> his case study, SimCity 3000, emphasises the cognitive<br />
"Secondspace", a representation rather than perception <strong>of</strong> space, let alone the repre-<br />
sentational, lived "third space", and as such tends to replace actual, lived experience<br />
with the instrumentality <strong>of</strong> demographics and productivity charts.<br />
Page 45 <strong>of</strong> 69
Taylor’s focus is on an historical analysis <strong>of</strong> the development <strong>of</strong> use and meaning <strong>of</strong><br />
space in video games. She reflects on the rising significance <strong>of</strong> video games in popular<br />
culture and ponders on spatial representation and meaning in literature and film, with<br />
reference to Gaston Bachelard (1984). She raises the question <strong>of</strong> whether a cultural<br />
shift away from literature and toward video games as spatial practice might result in a<br />
new meaning <strong>of</strong> space in the postmodern world, particularly with the increasing absence<br />
<strong>of</strong> a traditional fixed space <strong>of</strong> the family home. The implication being that cyberspace is<br />
increasingly defining our cultural understanding <strong>of</strong> space, and that therefore videogame<br />
studies <strong>of</strong>fer an opportunity to critically analyse this development. Huhtamo made a<br />
similar assessment in his 1995 work, when he argued that our growing adaptation to<br />
"telematic" reality is symptomatic <strong>of</strong> broader cultural changes, which calls into question<br />
traditional ideas <strong>of</strong> the audience, public and private (177). Taylor argues that space is<br />
critical to video games, and that the construction <strong>of</strong> virtual space is so different to the<br />
construction <strong>of</strong> 'real' or other symbolic space (such as film or literature) that it is a re-<br />
quirement <strong>of</strong> game studies to critically inquire into how they become and are lived<br />
spaces.<br />
Page 46 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Finally Aarseth (1998) also invokes Lefebvre’s terminology to analyse space in video<br />
games, particularly with reference to Myst and Myth. His emphasis, however, is to dem-<br />
onstrate that virtual space is always situated within real space. Citing Leirfall (1997) he<br />
points out that virtual spaces are systems <strong>of</strong> signs rather than actual material space,<br />
and that therefore the spatial practice <strong>of</strong> video games leads to a representation <strong>of</strong> space<br />
which is symbolic rather than actually spatial. Games operate according to explicit and<br />
intentional sets <strong>of</strong> rules, expressly designed to be conducive to gameplay, which to
Aarseth makes video game space symbolic rather than actually spatial, and hence 'alle-<br />
gories <strong>of</strong> space'. In his argument he is referring to spatial practice as the act <strong>of</strong> game<br />
designers and artists constructing the space. This clearly does lead to a symbolic rather<br />
than actual space as it is literally constructed from binary digits <strong>of</strong> 1s and 0s which are<br />
ordered in such a way to symbolise space. However, the difference between the actual<br />
and the symbolic is one <strong>of</strong> framing; within the 'real world' we take social rules and laws<br />
to be inherent, and it is only within an artificially constructed frame that we can contest<br />
them as such. For example within the 'magic circle' <strong>of</strong> play or within the confines <strong>of</strong> the<br />
carnival. Nevertheless we are strongly guided by even an unconscious adherence to<br />
these social rules (for example Foucault 1977). Importantly, the awareness that the<br />
frame <strong>of</strong> a virtual environment is arbitrary rather than inherent means that it can be al-<br />
tered, and the possibility for transformation that was only available in the carnival is now<br />
open in a virtual world but a real self and sense <strong>of</strong> body.<br />
The question <strong>of</strong> actual versus symbolic space is a problematic philosophical issue that I<br />
would suggest is not so easily dismissed. In particular my current work attempts to show<br />
how one’s play within these spaces is constructed by an embodied cyborgian experi-<br />
ence <strong>of</strong> virtual space; it is my bodily intentionality towards objects within the virtual world<br />
that determines my experience <strong>of</strong> space. Even though the spatial practice fabricates a<br />
symbolic space, it is actually experienced in the body as an authentic space in which<br />
the player in situated - if only temporarily, and under the specific conditions <strong>of</strong> immer-<br />
sion which lead to a sense <strong>of</strong> presence.<br />
Page 47 <strong>of</strong> 69
It is telling that the two games Aarseth focusses his work on, Myst and Myth, are both<br />
quite different in presentation and gameplay than RE4. Buckley’s work, as mentioned<br />
earlier, also uses Lefebvre’s terminology in order to consider Myst, but he concludes<br />
that it is mostly a game <strong>of</strong> Firstspace (spatial practice as it relates to the consumption <strong>of</strong><br />
perceptible space) which is experienced as lived, representational space in the body <strong>of</strong><br />
the player. Importantly there is no visible representation <strong>of</strong> player avatar in Myst and it is<br />
a turn-based rather than real-time game, which perhaps contributes to Aarseth’s dis-<br />
counting <strong>of</strong> it as spatial. These qualities certainly contribute something to the player’s<br />
sense <strong>of</strong> presence (or lack there<strong>of</strong>), and feeling <strong>of</strong> being embodied within the world. Fur-<br />
thermore, as Miklaucic (2006) showed, a hypermediated interface can result in an ex-<br />
aggerated sense <strong>of</strong> Secondspace (Lefebvre’s cognitive representation <strong>of</strong> space). This<br />
would be especially true also for Myth, which is a war simulation game. Additionally<br />
Aarseth’s overall oeuvre can be described as “ludological” as it tends to concentrate on<br />
the ludic qualities <strong>of</strong> games, that is, the cognitive or structural rather than the personal,<br />
experiential aspects.<br />
Page 48 <strong>of</strong> 69
Immersion and Presence<br />
The term ‘immersion’ has a number <strong>of</strong> different meanings. It can mean a sense <strong>of</strong> en-<br />
gagement in an activity, but it is also used to describe the feeling <strong>of</strong> being surrounded<br />
by, or immersed in an environment. It is a form <strong>of</strong> concentration wherein a loss <strong>of</strong> self-<br />
consciousness, temporal or spatial location is effected. <strong>Embodied</strong> immersion in video<br />
games has a special quality due to its relation to interactivity, and the phenomenological<br />
explanation <strong>of</strong> being-in-the-world; immersion within an environment depends upon our<br />
relationship to it, and embodied interaction provides us with a particular orientation to-<br />
wards the other features <strong>of</strong> that environment. Traditional media forms such as film ac-<br />
count for the body as site for consumption (Sobchack 2004), and emphasise somatic as<br />
well as cognitive qualities <strong>of</strong> their media, but the absence <strong>of</strong> an interactive embodied<br />
presence within the medium itself results in a significantly different form <strong>of</strong> presence.<br />
Although the body itself is implicated in the reception <strong>of</strong> these media, any sense <strong>of</strong> bod-<br />
ily intentionality is uni-directional as reception only. Presence within these media is ef-<br />
fected through what I describe as “ghostly embodiment” as the viewer <strong>of</strong> a film can feel<br />
as if they were within the world presented, but are incapable <strong>of</strong> effecting material<br />
change upon that world. In video games such as RE4 the player character adopts a<br />
specific position within the game world, which in turn implies a bidirectional relationship<br />
with the world. In a literal sense, a player cannot exist in a game environment without<br />
the material presence <strong>of</strong> code and data in the computer’s memory.<br />
Page 49 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Huhtamo (1995) shows that throughout modern history our culture has attempted to<br />
move beyond the constraints <strong>of</strong> normal embodied life with the aid <strong>of</strong> a variety <strong>of</strong> 'immer-
sive' devices - technologies such as the stereoscope, television and VR, but also phe-<br />
nomena such as psychedelic drugs and Eastern philosophies. In particular he identifies<br />
television, wide-screen cinema and Disneyland as symbolising the reorganisation (or<br />
hyper-real seduction in Baudrillard's terms (1994)) <strong>of</strong> audiovisuality. We could perhaps<br />
add videogames to that list as the most recent challenge to traditional media analysis.<br />
Meanwhile Ihde (1998) discusses the "dimensions" <strong>of</strong> media through history, including<br />
silent movies with their exaggerated reliance upon the visual spectacle, to contemporary<br />
movies which combine audio and visual. He shows how the physically stationary,<br />
seated viewer is the centre <strong>of</strong> (embodied) perspective in a vertiginous roller-coaster<br />
movie where the world appears to move around him, whereas seeing the same specta-<br />
cle from an external (disembodied) point <strong>of</strong> view would not result in vertigo.<br />
Page 50 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Heim (cited in McMahan 2003) defines virtual reality as real only in effect. This definition<br />
could be reframed with reference to Baudrillard's (1994) notion <strong>of</strong> simulacra such that<br />
virtual reality is that which the user believes to be not real. i.e., the user maintains an<br />
implied dual awareness <strong>of</strong> both the immediate phenomenological presence <strong>of</strong> the body,<br />
while maintaining a ludic suspension <strong>of</strong> disbelief in order to establish the temporary<br />
dominance <strong>of</strong> embodied presence within the virtual reality. Again, this can be correlated<br />
with Ihde's notion that the "here-body" does not have to reside within the physical body,<br />
as in the imaginative projection <strong>of</strong> jumping out <strong>of</strong> a plane, or in a near-death experience.<br />
There are two different ways to imagine the former case: the "here-body" perspective<br />
(embodied, first person, like real life), and the "out-there" perspective (disembodied,
third person, visual spectacle, "image-body"). In the latter case the "now-me" or "here-<br />
body" is separated from the physical body.<br />
McMahan (2003) distinguishes between two forms <strong>of</strong> realism which support immersion:<br />
social realism and perceptual realism. Perceptual realism is defined as the verisimilitude<br />
<strong>of</strong> perception between the virtual and the actual world. A common example is the goal <strong>of</strong><br />
photorealistic images. In terms <strong>of</strong> generating a sense <strong>of</strong> presence, Prothero et al. cite<br />
visual cues such as field <strong>of</strong> view as significant. Social realism is the believability <strong>of</strong> the<br />
world in terms <strong>of</strong> the social or metaphoric structures that locate the player's role within it<br />
(1995). The distinction suggests that understanding the “real rules and fictional worlds”<br />
(Juul 2005) <strong>of</strong> video games can be assisted by attention to the impression <strong>of</strong> bodily me-<br />
diation in that world, such as viewing through prosthetic eyes that have a field <strong>of</strong> view<br />
consistent with that we expect from other visual media such as film, as we shall explore<br />
further in the chapter “Visual and <strong>Embodied</strong> Aesthetics”.<br />
Despite the traditional emphasis on audio / visual output, Newman (2002) frames<br />
Page 51 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
gameplay as corporeal or haptic, which "transcends the boundaries <strong>of</strong> specific, delim-<br />
ited senses." Newman argues that when interface devices are capable <strong>of</strong> both input and<br />
output (e.g., rumble on the DualShock or the Wiimote), the self-conscious, critical sense<br />
<strong>of</strong> "interface" is lost to a "perfect" transparent, unmediated embodied circuit <strong>of</strong> feedback<br />
which strengthens the player's sense <strong>of</strong> presence. Lahti (2003) asserts that presence is<br />
determined more by a corporealised perception <strong>of</strong> motility rather than verisimilitude <strong>of</strong><br />
visual spectacle, and that haptic feedback devices envelop the player in virtual body<br />
sensations which are only implied by audio and visual cues. He suggests that haptic
feedback in the cybernetic loop acts as a prosthesis from machine to human, "where its<br />
affective thrills can spill over into the player's space" (2003: 163). Furthermore Lahti<br />
(2002) describes visual representation as the "second order" <strong>of</strong> interactivity where the<br />
first order is a "corporeal identification and pleasure", and Bukatman (1993) argues that<br />
presence is based on the translating loop <strong>of</strong> human player's visual perception <strong>of</strong> the vir-<br />
tual world through to their physical movement. These theoretical explanations seem<br />
particularly appropriate to my case study as my explanations <strong>of</strong> the Wiimote’s haptic<br />
feedback and the significance <strong>of</strong> motility through space indicate.<br />
To conclude this chapter on immersion and presence, it remains to return our thoughts<br />
to RE4 and reflect on the particular aesthetic style <strong>of</strong> the game. Immersion in this game<br />
is mostly exhibited as a feeling <strong>of</strong> presence within a spatial environment, and it is the<br />
particular type <strong>of</strong> presence as interactive that distinguishes this aesthetic form. Further-<br />
more interactivity is articulated through the body <strong>of</strong> the player’s avatar, so the phe-<br />
nomenology <strong>of</strong> Merleau-Ponty’s bodily intentionality provides some useful conceptual<br />
terminology with which to understand this state <strong>of</strong> gameplay. The following chapter will<br />
consider issues around the diversity <strong>of</strong> visual and embodied aesthetics as they’re expe-<br />
rienced during RE4.<br />
Page 52 <strong>of</strong> 69
Visual, <strong>Embodied</strong> Aesthetics<br />
Generally in RE4 we view the scene from a position just behind Leon, looking over his<br />
right-hand shoulder, maintaining a relatively constant distance and angle. This point <strong>of</strong><br />
view is usually called “Third person, trailing”.<br />
Page 53 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The use <strong>of</strong> this camera position has important ramifications for the player’s relationship<br />
to the game and their avatar. My strongest first impression was that there is no way to<br />
manipulate the camera position or angle independently <strong>of</strong> the avatar. This lead me to a<br />
strange feeling <strong>of</strong> not knowing who or what I was. Initially, without actively engaging with<br />
the game one might take on the position <strong>of</strong> the disembodied or ghostlike eye <strong>of</strong> cinema,<br />
located behind and above the avatar. But during play I began to associate myself with<br />
the representation <strong>of</strong> Leon that I could see. I identified the avatar as myself, which I<br />
could also, oddly, see from behind. This development was due to being able to recog-<br />
nise my own actions as being enacted through Leon. For example, I could see that
pressing the A and B buttons would cause Leon to shoot. In turn, I then came to associ-<br />
ate my button presses and Leon shooting as one and the same. This sensation is fur-<br />
ther enhanced by my movement <strong>of</strong> the main Wiimote controller which acts as a target-<br />
ing device on the television screen. Where ever on the television I point the controller in<br />
my physical hand, Leon would adjust his body position to point his gun.<br />
However, this was not without its problems. The dissociation between me-as-avatar and<br />
me-as-camera caused some ruptures in my sense <strong>of</strong> embodiment during play. During<br />
one firefight later on in the game, I was standing on the battlements <strong>of</strong> a castle, trying to<br />
shoot an enemy below whilst protecting myself from his fire by hiding behind the wall. I<br />
could clearly see my enemy and it was apparent to me that my avatar, Ada, was mostly<br />
hidden by the crenelations. I pointed the Wiimote at the enemy and shot, but did not<br />
seem to hit him. I realised that the targeting reticule had not turned red, despite pointing<br />
directly at the enemy. This suggested that the game did not acknowledge the enemy as<br />
being within line <strong>of</strong> sight. I believe the problem was due to the difference in point <strong>of</strong> view<br />
between me-as-camera and me-as-Ada. While the enemy was in sight from the cam-<br />
era’s point-<strong>of</strong>-view, Ada’s position obscured her view, so when I shot at the enemy, she<br />
just shot at the wall right in front <strong>of</strong> her. Frustratingly from this position Ada was still re-<br />
ceiving fire from the enemy that I was unable to target because her head - but not her<br />
gun - was in a clear line-<strong>of</strong>-sight.<br />
Page 54 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
The problems do not end there. In another scene toward the start <strong>of</strong> the game I was<br />
fighting a number <strong>of</strong> opponents in front <strong>of</strong> me, and was surprised to find a further adver-<br />
sary suddenly occupying a large portion <strong>of</strong> the television screen as he had entered the
scene without my noticing. This was due to a lack <strong>of</strong> peripheral vision. The human eye<br />
has a potential field-<strong>of</strong>-view (FOV) <strong>of</strong> over one hundred and eighty degrees 12 but video<br />
games typically use a FOV <strong>of</strong> around ninety degrees horizontally. Furthermore there is a<br />
difference between using a widescreen and standard size television due to the ex-<br />
tended horizontal area <strong>of</strong> the former. This effect is due to the relatively small area <strong>of</strong> our<br />
natural FOV which is taken up by the television screen during play. Sitting several me-<br />
tres away from a fifty centimetre screen means that we are only using less than ten <strong>of</strong><br />
our potential one hundred and eighty degree FOV. This is like seeing the world wearing<br />
horse blinders, which is a dramatic example <strong>of</strong> the trade-<strong>of</strong>f implicit in the technological<br />
mediation <strong>of</strong> our senses. Virtual reality systems which use head-mounted displays set<br />
very close to the eyes, and large, curved Cinerama screens can display images that oc-<br />
cupy almost all <strong>of</strong> the natural human FOV. These systems thus mimic the projection <strong>of</strong><br />
images we expect from our normal lives, they fulfil our desires for a transparent immer-<br />
sive experience which increases our sense <strong>of</strong> presence. In contrast, playing RE4, even<br />
on a widescreen television, can be a disturbing experience. In order to adapt to this new<br />
constraint on my vision I found that I had to actively reorient my avatar left and right in<br />
order to be able to maintain awareness <strong>of</strong> my surroundings.<br />
Page 55 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
Grodal (2003) presents a combination <strong>of</strong> structuralist, physiological, psychological and<br />
phenomenological theory for analysing video game aesthetics as stories in which we<br />
are embodied. His definition <strong>of</strong> 'story' emphasises the interrelation <strong>of</strong> perception, emo-<br />
tion, cognition and action, with events focussed on at least one human being. Grodal's<br />
12 To demonstrate this surprising assertion, look ahead and extend your arms to either side <strong>of</strong> your body<br />
until you can only just see them in your peripheral vision.
emphasis is on the the chain <strong>of</strong> perception, emotion and motor action <strong>of</strong> a "living agent<br />
in a natural environment". He clarifies this by suggesting that Tetris is not a narrative<br />
experience because it lacks an "agent-in-time-space". Murray, however, makes a case<br />
for the interpretation <strong>of</strong> Tetris as allegory or "symbolic drama" (1997: 142-7). Taylor<br />
(2005) rejects the use <strong>of</strong> the term 'narrative' to describe the player's relationship to<br />
space in games such as Quake, arguing in terminology similar to Lefebvre and Soja that<br />
the representational space <strong>of</strong> video game play is fundamentally different from the repre-<br />
sented space <strong>of</strong> film or literature as it is a lived, phenomenological space.<br />
Grodal asserts that emotions experienced from a first-person perspective (as in the<br />
case <strong>of</strong> 'real life' or a video game) provoke action from the (active, fight-or-flight) sympa-<br />
thetic nervous system, whereas the detached, third person perspective (such as in film)<br />
provokes emotions <strong>of</strong> empathy (pity, admiration and so on) from the (passive) parasym-<br />
pathetic nervous system. There is an interesting correlation here with McLuhan who<br />
stated that "media, or the extensions <strong>of</strong> man, are 'make happen' agents, but not 'make<br />
aware' agents" (1964). That is, the new, technological media do not afford contemplative<br />
parasympathetic emotions 13 , but rather the active coping <strong>of</strong> the sympathetic nervous<br />
system. This bodily attention to emotion is supported by Damasio's rendering <strong>of</strong> emo-<br />
tions as temporary physiological changes in the "body proper" (2004: 53). This corre-<br />
sponds with Merleau-Ponty's argument against the Cartesian mind/body split, that emo-<br />
tions have a physical basis occurring within "le corps propre".<br />
13 Although games such as Myst are clear exceptions.<br />
Page 56 <strong>of</strong> 69
This case study has demonstrated the unique qualities <strong>of</strong> embodied video game playing<br />
as distinct from other media forms, and it is the overall purpose <strong>of</strong> this thesis to argue<br />
for the study <strong>of</strong> this form as a a unique aesthetic. Clearly there are cases <strong>of</strong> remediation<br />
where conventions from other media are incorporated into that <strong>of</strong> games, but I argue<br />
that it is important to recognise the particular differences and begin theorising from that<br />
point. Given the increasing cultural significance <strong>of</strong> video games, and the particular<br />
dominance <strong>of</strong> first and third person embodied presentation, it becomes clear that as a<br />
scholarly discipline it is necessary for game studies to engage directly with the medium<br />
as it is experienced. Interestingly, Aarseth (1998) believes that simulation rather than<br />
narrative is to become the leading pedagogical means to convey knowledge and expe-<br />
rience.<br />
Page 57 <strong>of</strong> 69
Conclusion<br />
The story <strong>of</strong> Resident <strong>Evil</strong> 4 deals with the anxiety <strong>of</strong> human and non-human, the fear <strong>of</strong><br />
being taken over by an alien entity, technologically born. This is a familiar motif in the<br />
technological imaginary, and a familiar concern in the mainstream media’s attention to<br />
video games. Far from this alarmist perspective my interest lies in an attention to the<br />
aesthetic quality <strong>of</strong> video games as an emerging medium.<br />
The processes <strong>of</strong> meaning-making in embodied gameplay are clearly different to those<br />
<strong>of</strong> traditional spectatorship. For ludologists this implies a rejection <strong>of</strong> existing media the-<br />
ory and methodology, as they fail to account for the specificity <strong>of</strong> the medium. While lit-<br />
erary or film narrative forms may have limited applicability to the study <strong>of</strong> games, an out-<br />
right rejection <strong>of</strong> narrative denies an important aspect <strong>of</strong> gameplay. <strong>Embodied</strong> interac-<br />
tion in virtual worlds constitutes an environment in which both technophilic idealism and<br />
technophobic paranoia can run rife. The reality is that our reception or consumption <strong>of</strong><br />
narrative in literary form is significantly different to our experience <strong>of</strong> embodied interac-<br />
tivity, and this in turn results in a need for a consideration <strong>of</strong> meaning making practices<br />
within such environments.<br />
This discourse <strong>of</strong> embodied meaning making appears to be novel and significant<br />
Page 58 <strong>of</strong> 69<br />
enough to require a thorough attention to its specific material conditions, which is cur-<br />
rently absent from critical game studies. Cybernetics and the notion <strong>of</strong> the cyborg has<br />
been useful to reintroduce technological agency to a critique <strong>of</strong> video games, but further<br />
attention to phenomenological approaches, in particular perhaps in respect <strong>of</strong> architec-<br />
ture, sports and music may suggest terminology or theories <strong>of</strong> consumption or participa-
tion that could also be <strong>of</strong> use. I propose to continue this study during my PhD, analysing<br />
video games with specific attention to embodiment, and in particular to consider the re-<br />
lationship between immersion, agency, technology, human senses and meaning.<br />
Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology seems promising for dealing with the human aspects,<br />
and Ihde’s work is suggested as a useful resource for understanding the role <strong>of</strong> tech-<br />
nology in this framework.`<br />
In exploring the question <strong>of</strong> embodiment in RE4, this dissertation has attempted to<br />
cover a wide variety <strong>of</strong> ground but the current study should only be considered an intro-<br />
duction. We have barely touched on the complex issues <strong>of</strong> the body as articulated by<br />
cultural studies more broadly, space and presence extensively examined by virtual envi-<br />
ronment researchers, cultural geography and the urban cityscape. Finally there still re-<br />
mains a need to integrate the important work already carried out by narrative and game<br />
studies scholars.<br />
There is still much left to explore in this growing body <strong>of</strong> work.<br />
[14,900 Words]<br />
Page 59 <strong>of</strong> 69
Doom. id S<strong>of</strong>tware. (1993). PC.<br />
Ludography<br />
Dragon’s Lair. Advanced Microcomputer Systems. (Cinematronics, 1983). Arcade.<br />
Myst. Cyan Inc., (Brøderbund, Midway, 1993). PC.<br />
Myth: The Fallen Lords. Bungie. (Eidos Inc.). PC.<br />
Quake. id S<strong>of</strong>tware, (GT Interactive, 1996). PC.<br />
Resident <strong>Evil</strong> 4: Wii Edition. Capcom Production Studio 4. (Capcom, 2007). Wii.<br />
Shenmue. Sega-AM2. (Sega, 1999). Dreamcast.<br />
SimCity 3000. Maxis. (EA Games, 1999). PC.<br />
Tetris. Alexey Pajitnov, (1985). PC.<br />
The Sims. Maxis. (Electronic Arts, 2000). PC.<br />
Filmography<br />
Raiders <strong>of</strong> the Lost Ark. Spielberg, Steven. (Paramount Pictures, 1981).<br />
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