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Cited by 30Digital Games and MediaPosthumanist Ethics and ActivismCybernetics and Technology in Society

Empathy at play: Embodying posthuman subjectivities in gaming

Open access
Wilde, Poppy, Evans, Adrienne·2019·Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
DOI 10.1177/1354856517709987
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Abstract

In this article, we address the need for a posthuman account of the relationship between the avatar and player. We draw on a particular line of posthumanist theory associated closely with the work of Karen Barad, Rosi Braidotti and N. Katherine Hayles that suggests a constantly permeable, fluid and extended subjectivity, displacing the boundaries between human and other. In doing so, we propose a posthuman concept of empathy in gameplay, and we apply this concept to data from the first author’s 18-month ethnographic field notes of gameplay in the MMORPG World of Warcraft. Exploring these data through our analysis of posthuman empathy, we demonstrate the entanglement of avatar–player, machine–human relationship. We show how empathy allows us to understand this relationship as constantly negotiated and in process, producing visceral reactions in the intra-connected avatar–player subject as well as moments of co-produced in-game action that require ‘affective matching’ between subjective and embodied experiences. We argue that this account of the avatar–player relationship extends research in game culture, providing a horizontal, non-hierarchical discussion of its most necessary interaction.

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Crossref · 10.1177/1354856517709987

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58 of 58 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Wilde and Evans argue that games do not merely represent the blurring of human-machine boundaries but actively perform and negotiate it.

    “Wilde and Evans' work on posthumanism and digital play extends this insight by arguing that games do not merely represent the blurring of human-machine boundaries but actively perform and negotiate it.”

    From Power negotiation through breaking walls: a media critique of “fourth-wall-breaking” in digital games (2026) · cites this paper as Wilde and Evans (2017)

  • The walls breached in digital games, barriers between fiction and reality, interface and user, and human agency and computational process, are homologous to the invisible boundaries structuring everyday life in our algorithmic culture.

    “Drawing on Hayles (1999) and Wilde and Evans (2017), our analysis demonstrates that the”

    From Power negotiation through breaking walls: a media critique of “fourth-wall-breaking” in digital games (2026) · cites this paper as Wilde and Evans (2017)

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Related

Authors
Wilde, P., & Evans, A.
Affiliations
Coventry University (GB)
Corresponding author
Wilde, Poppy
ORCID
Venue
Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2017-05-29
Volume
25
Issue
5-6
Pages
791-806
ISSN
  • 1354-8565 (ISSN-L)
  • 1748-7382
DOI
10.1177/1354856517709987
OpenAlex
W2738150348
Cited by
30
References
59
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
FWCI
4.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (publishedVersion)
  • BCU Open Access Repository (Birmingham City University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Pure (Coventry University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Minnesota
  • Universiteit Gent
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
Keywords
posthumanism, empathy, video games, World of Warcraft, MMORPG, embodiment, Karen Barad, Rosi Braidotti, N. Katherine Hayles, gaming culture, subjectivity

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