The National CollegePossible Worlds
Second Skins
Isobel Gorman
Fig. 1:
Homer Simpson - Quake III
Fig. 2:
Spanky - Quake III
As a new phenomenon, multi-player gaming has a very short history. In fact, the thesis from which this short article is taken was perhaps the first theoretical paper ever written on the subject. It was entitled Virtual Bodies in Virtual Environments. The majority of research was conducted by being immersed in the culture of multi-player gaming. As written sources were extremely limited, the majority of information was gleaned from various game magazines spanning a five-year period (since its first development), online interviews, attending tournaments, LAN Parties, visiting online Internet Service Providers and through direct gamer input from the distribution of a questionnaire.
Immersive Environments
The interactive nature of multi-player games coupled with powerful graphic real world representation makes for an intensive and uniquely realistic experience, which has never been seen before. According to Jean Baudrillard's third order of simulacra, which he attributes to the contemporary condition, it is 'no longer possible to appeal to a "real" referent, for distinctions between representations and objects, ideas and things can no longer be sustained in a world where simulation models predominate' (Baudrillard in Smart, p. 52). Online simulations are hyperreal environments in which players negotiate their way using a hyperreal body or skin1.The projection of other players' virtual bodies within the game space creates a distorted illusion of reality. These virtual worlds and the objects within them have no parallel in reality, they are products of the imagination created in the likeness of real world items. Online gaming worlds simulate scenarios and environments that the player can never explore in real life. They make fantasy and dreams almost seem tangible and real, because they physically engage us through a number of the senses.
This is the 'consensual hallucination' (Rheingold, p. 388), which William Gibson described in his novel Neuromancer - except it is not the stuff of nightmares, as he put it, but an empowering tool that gives players the opportunity to create and share collective dreams. Coyne describes the real as a process that involves the proximity of other beings. He uses an example from Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass to explain his theory. He describes the moment when Alice meets the Unicorn: 'The two creatures have to encounter one another before their participation in the real can be confirmed, and even before it can become an issue. The real involves sharing' (Coyne, p. 48).
In online games, every act involves proximity or shared participation in the others' fantasy. Players can (while still in the rudimentary stages) give each other items or talk via text message. They have the power to kill or destroy each other's chosen character, which effectively excludes the player from the game, thus dispelling the fantasy. However, although this process is not on the 'biological' level that Coyne described above, it is no less relevant, because we know there is a real person behind the projected image.
The most popular online games tend to be those which imitate real life scenarios and realistic environments2. The increasing popularity for team based play in First Person Shooter multi-player combat games such as Team Fortress and CounterStrike is pushing technology forward in the desire for a more real gaming experience and a more realistic virtual world. In Simon Penny's paper Virtual Reality as the Completion of the Enlightenment Project, he calls this process 'retrograde article position [...] This call for the representation of the "organic" is a call for greater mimesis in computer graphics' (Bender et al. eds., p. 233). Game environments are technology-driven and as such present a highly schematised appearance, which gives the environment a mysterious and enigmatic quality. There is a purity of form that is unearthly in its unnaturalness. Instead of disrupting one's sense of reality, this quality absorbs the player and heightens his or her sense of real excitement. There is a genuine feeling of exploration and adventure, as a player moves around the simulated environment. In the First Person Shooter genre, players must race to find the best weapons, which are scattered around the game zone. Because there are real competitors online occupying the same game space, there is a genuine feeling of competitiveness and exhilaration. An Irish gamer, whom I met while attending an Irish LAN3 tournament, states: 'When you know a map, you know where the best weapons are. The fun begins when all the players race to get to those weapons first […] it's absolute carnage' (from questionnaire completed by gamer 'the Dentist' at Planet Cyber Cafe).
The Games Industry has created the majority of cutting edge technology, with regard to virtual reality.Technology for online games has advanced to give the player an increased sense of space through 3D sound4. 3D sound is of great importance as it adds depth and atmosphere to the environment and contributes to the state of being immersed. According to one expert in game audio technology: 'there's nothing quite like the click of a submachine-gun bolt being cocked behind you to get your juices flowing' (Case, p. 66-67).
The senses play an essential role in our understanding or perception of reality. In virtual reality we are building an alternative reality based around these senses. According to Howard Rheingold, we are programmed from an early age to deny or overlook the fact that consciousness as we know it is a
'hyperrealistic simulation [...] We build models of the world in our mind, using the data from our sense organs and the information-processing capabilities of our brain. We habitually think of the world as we see it 'out there,' but what we are seeing is really a mental model, a perceptual simulation that exists only in our brain. That simulation capability is where human minds and digital computers share a potential for synergy' (Rheingold, p. 388).
Online games play on a number of senses that affect our perception. In fact, objects in the game can even change the way a character acts both towards other players and the environments itself. The effects of alcohol are an example: in the massive online role playing game Everquest, a player can get drunk. These sensations try to parallel real effects on the human body. The player can't actually feel the euphoric or stimulant effects of alcohol, only experience the side effects such as restricted character activity and imbalance. It is perhaps unnecessary to try to reproduce certain tactile sensations based around the functions of the human body. For one, we are seeking to escape, transporting our minds to another dimension and leaving the confines or limitations of the corporeal body. Why then should games try to emulate certain functions only necessary for biological processes?
Skins - Virtual Bodies
A posthuman state is a prominent theme in post-modernist discourse. The principal theory is that communication technology will eventually intersect with biotechnology (Bender et al. eds., p. 55) to produce a hybrid machine/organism or cyborg. However there are those like Hans Moravec who feel we are about to enter a 'postbiological' universe where 'we can upload our willing spirits into computer memory or robotic bodies and do away with the weak flesh altogether' (Dery, p. 8). Although a radical and thought-provoking concept, there are many problems with Moravec's theory. He assumes that people would be willing to relinquish their bodies in the first instance. If one were to take on board Kroker & Weinstein's dystopian theory of the 'virtual class' (Kroker, Weinstein, p. 6), one would certainly be very wary of such a process.
The smooth transition from corporeal body to cyber-body, as experienced through the medium of games, has provided a subtle bridge between the human-machine divide. Although this may be the case, multi-player gaming has more to do with altering perception of reality through prosthesis. The body is only dormant or immobile at the moment, because present technology has not reached the stage where games and tactile virtual reality can converge and be worn or incorporated into the body. The cyborg theory certainly seems to become a more realistic prospect at this point in our development.
'Technology serves fundamentally as a prosthesis of the human body, one that ultimately displaces the material body, transmitting instead its image around the globe and preserving the image over time' (Bender et al. eds., p. 50).
In online games the body is represented in the virtual dimension by a virtual skin - a second skin. This second skin is malleable and can be redesigned depending on the player's desires (using a downloaded software package). Within this realm, the whole concept of personal identity is undergoing a radical change. Post-modernism is defined by this idea of multiplicity and play.
'Postmodern existence occurs where individuals are able to surmount repressive modern forms of identity and status to become desiring nomads in a constant process of becoming and transforming' (Woods, p. 30).
How players choose to represent themselves in a game is a matter of personal choice. In terms of identity, one feels the pressure to behave as appropriate within the constraints of one's particular social sphere, but within the anonymity of a chosen skin, one may become someone or something entirely different.
In Neal Mueller's website, he discusses Bakhtin's theory on two types of body aesthetic - the classical aesthetic and the carnivalized aesthetic. 'The term "fantastic" art is used to embody the transcendence of the carnivalesque from reality. It is not the art of normality, but of fantastic motifs and forms' (Mueller, 18th January 2001). These theories apply to certain aspects of multi-player character skins. While many gamers choose the appearance of the classically aesthetic skin, i.e. muscular warrior, beautiful Amazonian etc., there are many who prefer to choose grotesque bodies of monsters or strange creatures. Skins offer a whole new life, albeit a virtual one, especially to those with special needs or physical disabilities. These 3D worlds are great equalisers, where regardless of sex, race, age, class or religion, all players are equal.
As computer games are the culmination of all forms of entertainment and fiction, the participation of such a wide range of players from different cultural backgrounds has left its mark, producing an eclectic mix of styles, inputs and creative ideas. At present, there is an explosion of creative talent designing skins for the first Person Shooter genre, i.e. Quake III and Unreal Tournament. I have witnessed clowns, Hitler, bizarre creatures, dead presidents, celebrities and even the odd Bill Gates skin racing about, being fragged5. (See fig. 1 & 2) There is something interesting happening here: players are creating and/or downloading skins of historical figures, fictional characters, icons of popular culture and cult figures. These skins reflect a cosmopolitan culture saturated with symbols and ideologies of a very visual nature. 'Lupin', an online gamer informed me of his personal choice of skin: 'The skin I use in Quake III is a non-default one of Ash from the Evil Dead, I personally think Ash rocks so I picked him' (Interview with the author).
Multi-player Catharsis
Multi-player gaming is free from hegemonic structures and ideas of morality, where acts of destruction or killing are actually productive as they purge the body and mind of negative emotions like stress and frustration. The element of catharsis produced by this process acts like a stimulant or opiate. Psychologist David Lewis, a noted authority on human behaviour and author of over 30 books on the subject, carried out scientific research on the effects of multi-player gaming on people's levels of stress and aggression.
'If you're leaping around and smashing a dummy, your blood pressure and heart rate are bound to go up - you're being very physically vigorous; when you play Quake III you're sitting down and relaxed. The interesting thing was that when we took their blood pressure half an hour later, those who'd been physically fighting were still elevated, they were subjectively reporting that they still felt quite angry, whereas the people who'd been playing Quake III were not' (Lewis, p. 100).
According to Lewis, multi-player gaming defuses anger and frustration harmlessly.
We are living in a very visual world, a world obsessed with the production of images and ideas of identity. The current emphasis is on the customisation of personal communication technology. The postmodern idea of experimentation and diversity is evident particularly in the current trend of changeable mobile phone casings and ring tones. While the term 'skins' applies as much to computer desktops/application themes and mobile phone casings, the immersive nature of the online skin gives people a unique opportunity to transcend the limitations of the corporeal body. It gives the player the freedom to experiment with their entire identity and form in an entertaining and anything-goes environment as opposed to just amending aspects of their image. While people are altering the aesthetic appearance of personal 'hardware' items like mobile phones to fit in with their ideas of identity, many game players are altering their entire concept of self to fit in with a hyperreal image. However, because this new ego is part of a communal fantasy or carnival-like atmosphere, there is a greater sense of freedom and catharsis.
1 Skin - virtual body chosen to represent a player within the confines of a game.
2 Environments may be, for example, within the parameters of a war-like fortress or similar hostile environment, while Strategy games imitate styled landscapes, i.e., snow covered Siberian tundra. Mission also may be quest based as in fantasy.
3 The main difference with online gaming and LAN gaming is that LAN is a local network, gamers can sit side by side in a café etc., whereas internet gaming is global and you never see your opponents/companions in real life.
4 3D sound applies mainly to first person shooter genre where approaching or retreating footsteps give a sense of depth, reality and intrigue to the game. Sound may also give away location of a player or their proximity to another person.
5 To frag - to blow apart, an idiom adopted by First Person Shooter genre multi-players, originally used by US marines in Vietnam.
Bibliography
BENDER, G., & Druckrey, T., (eds.) Culture on the Brink: Ideologies of Technology, Seattle, Bay Press, 1994.
CASE, Loyd, Audio's Voice is Changing, in PC GAMING WORLD, Vol. 29, May 1999, p. 66-67.
COYNE, Richard, Technoromanticism - Digital Narrative, Holism, and the Romance of the Real, Massachusetts, MIT Press, 1999.
DERY, Mark, Escape Velocity - Cyberculture at the End of the Century, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1996.
KROKER, Arthur, Michael A. Weinstein, Data Trash - The Theory of the Virtual Class, Montreal, New World Perspectives, 1994.
LEWIS, David, You know you've hit the big time when you prove that games are good for you, in Official Dreamcast Magazine, Vol. 6, April 2000, p. 100.
MUELLER, Chris, Fantastic Art of the Carnivalesque, http://www.sas.upenn/~nmueller/grmn247/fantastic.html, 18 January, 2001.
RHEINGOLD, Howard, Virtual Reality, London, Mandarin, 1994.
SMART, Barry, Postmodernity, London, Routledge, 1993.
WOODS, Tim, Beginning Postmodernism, Manchester, University Press, 1999.
Interview
Online interview with online gamer 'Lupin', 24 January 2001.
