undefined

Playing the Nonhuman : Alien Experiences in Aliens vs. Predator

Year of publication

2020

Authors

Arjoranta, Jonne

Abstract

What is it like to play a nonhuman character? In his classic essay, philosopher Thomas Nagel (1975) argues that we are fundamentally unable to imagine what it is like to be a bat, because our senses and cognition are structured in a way that is uniquely human – whereas bats’ senses and cognition have a uniquely bat-like configuration. In spite of this, media genres from fantasy to science-fiction routinely strive to imagine and show what it could be like to be something other than human. What is more, different media achieve this effect by different means: literature provides textual descriptions, audio-visual media rely on moving images, and comics employ different kinds of multimodal compositions, as discussed in the previous chapter. In the fifth chapter, Jonne Arjoranta continues investigating these medium-specific imaginations by examining how video games portray the nonhuman, what kind of assumptions they make about being nonhuman, and what kind of tools and techniques they use to convey the (imagined) experience of nonhumanness. The analysis focuses on Aliens vs. Predator (2010, Rebellion Developments), which features three different but intertwined campaigns that allow the player to play as a human, an alien, and a predator. The game thereby evokes two playing experiences that are supposedly nonhuman, and enables direct comparison between them and the “normal” experience of playing as human. The discussion around these playing experiences is further complemented with examples from other games that present playable nonhuman characters and, like the previous two chapters, draws theoretical support from the notion of embodied cognition.
Show more

Organizations and authors

University of Jyväskylä

Arjoranta Jonne Orcid -palvelun logo

Publication type

Publication format

Article

Parent publication type

Compendium

Article type

Other article

Audience

Scientific

Peer-reviewed

Peer-Reviewed

MINEDU's publication type classification code

A3 Book section, Chapters in research books

Publication channel information

Parent publication editors

Karkulehto, Sanna; Koistinen, Aino-Kaisa; Varis, Essi

Publisher

Routledge

Pages

108-124

​Publication forum

5876

​Publication forum level

3

Open access

Open access in the publisher’s service

Yes

Open access of publication channel

Fully open publication channel

Self-archived

Yes

Other information

Fields of science

Other humanities

Keywords

[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Publication country

United States

Internationality of the publisher

International

Language

English

International co-publication

No

Co-publication with a company

No

DOI

10.4324/9780429243042-8

The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection

Yes