Tutorial Introduction

As We Become Machines: Corporealized Pleasures in Video Games (Martti Lahti)

Lahti’s paper delineates some of the ways in which current video games act as extensions to our bodies. This is envisioned in the sense that a body and technological–like symbiosis is seen to be present in these circumstances, formulating a cyborgian entity. Lahti gives a description of older forms of video games, whereby there is a more distinct demarcation between the user and game. These boundaries are seen to disintegrate when the games become conceptually reformulated to give the player a more subjective view and a more realistic, three-dimensional setting in which the game is played out. It is manifest that more emphasis is placed on the body in these games which is exemplified in representations of grunts, sounds of physical violence inflicted on the body and “health metres” on the screen. In this instance, Lahti uses an excellent metaphor in which to envisage the cyborgian nature that exists between machine and human where we “see ‘through the eyes of the monitor’ what our body is supposed to feel and register.”1 In this context, our bodies really do appear to be entwined with technology, as the monitor effectively becomes our eyes.

The level of detail given to describe the differences between older and more contemporary models of video games give credibility to Lahti’s argument when she explains the corporeal emphasis that is inherent in the latter models. It was necessary of Lahti to first describe the level of abstraction and more rudimentary perceptual governance that was characteristic of the older models in order to highlight the huge perceptual and corporeal shift that has occurred. A compelling proposition is made in that the physical body has become integrated into the game. Lahti’s paper offers another postmodern perspective that identifies with a current theme in this course of the blurring of boundaries. Here, the video game and body are conceptualised not as distinct entities, which is depicted in this quote, encapsulating the essence of the whole paper:

“The monitor guides us into (a perceptual and corporeal) interaction with the computer and, as a technologized form of vision, it becomes a component and extension of the body; it replaces our body, or rather extends its capacities, and becomes both a representation and source of bodily experiences, thus creating a hybrid condition resonant with the cyborg.”2

I would tend to agree with this notion that when engaging in video games we are situated along a virtual and real continuum, rather than acting as discrete entities. We are absolved into a delirium of fantasy, yet are still made aware of our physicality. This is the quality that Lahti deems to be attractive in video games. Through first person positioning, the onscreen avatar and the player’s subjectivities are seen to fuse, facilitating the corporealisation of perception.

The pleasure that is derived from avatars is then discussed in the later parts of the paper. The representation of self on the screen permits the experimentation and projection of desired body type onto the avatar. This is described by the player “being able to augment and upgrade the real body through customizing the represented body.”3 However, this is described to reinforce the narrow categories and boundaries that exist in relation to gender and race, whereby the player inhabits “an easily assumed, ready-to-be-invaded vessel of the Other,” aligning itself with the menu-driven identities we have studied earlier in the course. The context of our current cultural situation is then discussed in relation to video games. Capitalism takes on a dimension in one game, Extreme Sports, where money must be earned to permit an upgrade of a vehicle in which the self is situated. Games are thus seen to “commodify our cyborg desires, our will to merge with and become technology.”4 Patriarchy is also touched on when it is seen that the experimentation with different onscreen bodies to the white man is facilitated without the abdication of any cultural or social power.

Overall I found Lahti’s paper to offer some compelling insights as to the corporeal nature that is now becoming embedded in contemporary video games. I do believe that the perceptual alignment between the avatar and player, along with other devices which absolve the player into the virtuality of the game and yet maintain emphasis on their corporeality founds a significant basis with which to assert the proposition that we become cyborgs when playing video games.

1 p.294 Course Reader
2 p.296
3 p.297
4 p.297