Terminology Analysis BEYOND Coming of Age in Second Life, part 6

Continued from part 5.

As this series of blog posts continues, it becomes less and less about the terminology in Boellstorff's Coming of Age in Second Life.

CYBERKINAESTHESIA (cont.): 

Continuing to look at Silvie Bissonnette's Affect and Embodied Meaning in Animation (2019), she states that players enter an "algorithmic coupling" of the player's body with their avatar (2019 pg. 203). They achieve perceptual symbiosis with their avatar, but must establish a form of algorithmic synchronism with the interface and physical mastery of different mappings in order to achieve success in a game with more complex moves (pg. 203).

Which leads us to the definition of "interface," as adapted from Narcis Parés and Roc Parés' article, "Towards a Model for a Virtual Reality Experience: The Virtual Subjectiveness" (2006 pp. 529-31):

INTERFACE: is a two-way communication system between an actual person and a virtual space. It consists of a physical interface, a logical interface, and the mappings between the two.

PHYSICAL INTERFACE: is comprised of the sensors, displays, and input devices that link to the user.

LOGICAL INTERFACE: is the representation of the user's ability to interact with the virtual space. This is the "self" as defined by Ellis, a "point of view from which the environment may be constructed" ("Nature and Origins of Virtual Environments: A Bibliographical Essay" 1991 pg. 322). Extending this definition, it is the "mediation of the experience between the user and the VE... and it may define its own appearance or representation (as in the case of an avatar)" (Parés 2006 pg. 530).

"An avatar in a video game is a digital body that allows the player to see objects in the game world from a particular point of view and to interact with this world in real time" (Bissonnette 2019 pg. 204).

MAPPING: is the link between physical and logical interfaces (when the player presses A, the avatar jumps; when the player moves to the right joystick to the left, the point of view turns left; etc.).

"We have the mouse as a physical interface, the cursor as the logical interface, a mapping between the two, and a screen to visualize the results... It must not be forgotten that without the cursor, the mouse is useless. Also, without a proper mapping between the physical and logical units, the functionality of the interface may be useless (either too sluggish or too fast to control)" (Parés 2006 pg. 530).

PERCEPTUAL SYMBIOSIS: is achieved when, after practicing with a game, the player finds that "basic tasks in the game world become second nature" (Bissonnette 2019 pg. 209). It is a seamless coordination of mapping between physical and logical interfaces that is part of the player adapting to their cyborgean assemblage with the game system. The player thinks, applies input, and affects the virtual environment, as seen on the screen.

"After completing Bioshock, I felt in control of my avatar; I was less under the impression that the game space was controlling me" (2019 pg. 208).

"Interactivity in Detail"
Steve Swink, Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation (2009) pg. 36

When playing a digital game, the player enters into a cybernetic circuit with the game system, completing a "material feedback loop of information and agency that flows between the machine and the player" (Keogh A Play of Bodies 2018 pg. 40). This circuit is clearly shown in the well-known illustration from Steve Swink's Game Feel (2009), above. The player "reads" the game state from the display (physical interface), processes the information in their brain, and responds by instructing the body to input commands on the controller (physical interface), which the game system interprets (through mappings) to change the game state (logical interface). This cycle repeats and the cyborgean human/machine assemblage co-constitutes the real-time dynamics of the game-in-play.

"The Conversation Between Human and Computer"
Swink (2009) pg. 4

Game designer Chris Crawford likens this cyborgean circuit to a conversation, which he defines as "a cyclic process in which two active agents alternately (and metaphorically) listen, think, and speak" (Chris Crawford on Game Design 2003) and is the key to interactivity. The metaphor of "listen, think, and speak" is adapted to the "input, process, and output" of the computer, as shown in the second illustration by Steve Swink, above. Human and machine are locked together in discourse.

ALGORITHMIC COUPLING: is achieved when the player "begins to master the physical interface and the logical interface of a video game" and shows "enhanced reflexes and critical judgment in scenarios that require these skills" (Bissonnette 2019 pg. 214).

The dialogue model, above, works well to describe a player in perceptual symbiosis with their avatar. Once the player reaches the point of algorithmic coupling, the real-time control that is the core of what Swink calls "game feel," the player is no longer consciously thinking before "speaking."

"The 'conversation' takes place in minute increments, below the level of consciousness, in an uninterrupted flow of command. The result of input feels as though it is perceived in the same moment its expressed. This is the basis of game feel: precise, continuous control of a moving avatar" (Swink 2009 pp. 3-4).

To be continued...