Body as battlefield: rethinking avatarhood in real-time strategy games

Can video game players embody the game world without embodying a concrete, bodily-shaped avatar? By exploring the players’ embodied experiences in real-time strategy games where no concrete avatar is present, we argue that the answer is yes. Specifically, we argue that the players can embody a game world consisting of various controlled game items by incorporating game mechanics with their bodily actions. Such an embodiment enables skilled players to develop a nuanced perception of possible actions within the game and to react more effectively than novices in a given situation. Focusing on Age of Empires 2, we analyze three key skills —micro-management, quick-walling, and map reading— that differentiate experts’ game performance from novices’, showing that the difference in their performance rests on the difference in their embodiment of the game rather than the difference in their reflective knowledge. Ultimately, the findings suggest that players’ capacity to perceive and execute actions is fundamentally shaped by their embodied experiences within the game’s context.