Remediation and the Split Subject in Virtual Reality

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how concepts such as identity and subjectivity are formed in online video games. Furthermore, this thesis explores the potential outcomes of a virtual environment that is able to render photo-realistic computer graphics. This thesis explores Black Mirror’s season 5 episode 1, “Striking Vipers”’s hypothetical scenario of a perfect immersion into virtual reality to explore how a subject’s unconscious desires are portrayed online and in video games. Virtual reality as depicted in “Striking Vipers” perfectly emulates the physical world which should be argued to impede the user’s enjoyment of online games as it would go beyond Masahiro Mori’s proposed “Uncanny Valley” in which there is an excessive amount of affinity for video game avatars. The main characters who experience this level of virtual reality sophistication unintentionally reveal repressed desires and muddle the boundaries of physical reality and virtual reality. Using a primarily psychoanalytic approach, this thesis aims to understand the mentality of the subject when engaged in online interactions also known as the user. Bolter and Grusin’s idea of “remediation” into online environments is necessary for a psychoanalytical understanding of the user. The user who remediates into online environments assumes a large variety of virtual identities. When the user identifies as an in-game avatar, the user re-experiences the Lacanian “mirror stage” insomuch as they identify with a mirror image. The user’s avatar performs as the objet petit a in which the user fulfills one’s unconscious fantasies through the avatar. As Slavoj Zizek claims, this false image is argued to be a more accurate identity for the user as this identity is not restricted by the symbolic order, otherwise known as the “big Other.”| 이 연구는 온라인 비디오 게임에서 디지털 주체성과 정체성의 개념이 어떻게 형성되고 이 주체성이 원래 주체성과 어떤 관계를 갖는 지에 대해 분석하면서 사진-실제 컴퓨터 그래픽을 렌더링할 수 있는 가상 환경의 잠재적 결과를 탐구한다. 이 연구를 수행하기 위하여 분석의 대상으로 삼은 텍스트는 <블랙미러> 시즌 5의 에피소드1, <스트라이킹 바이퍼스>이다. <스트라이킹 바이퍼스>에 묘사되었듯이 가상현실은 물리적 세계를 모방한다. 이는 모리 마사히로가 로봇이 사람과 흡사해질수록 인간의 호감도가 증가하다가 어느 정도 수준이 되면 강한 거부감을 느끼고, 로봇의 외모나 행동이 인간과 거의 구별할 수 없을 정도에 이르면 다시 호감도가 증가한다는 '불쾌한 골짜기(Uncanny valley)' 론에서 주장한 것처럼 유저가 불쾌한 골짜기를 넘어서면 비디오 게임 아바타에 과도한 친화력을 보인다. <스트라이킹 바이퍼스>에 묘사된 정교한 가상현실을 경험하는 주인공들은 본의 아니게 억압된 욕망을 드러내며 물리적 현실과 가상현실의 경계가 모호해진다. 이 연구는 주로 정신분석학적 접근법을 사용하여 온라인 상호작용에 참여할 때 주체의 사고방식을 이해하는 것을 목표로 한다. 온라인 환경에 대한 볼터와 그루신(Bolter and Grusin)의 재매개(remediation) 개념은 유저에 대한 정신분석학적 이해를 위해 필수적이다. 온라인 환경에 재매개하는 유저는 매우 다양한 가상 정체성을 가장한다. 유저가 게임아바타로 동일시되면 유저는 거울 이미지에 동일시할 때처럼 라캉의 거울 단계를 재경험한다. 유저의 아바타는 대상 a (object petit a)로 간주된다. 유저가 아바타를 통해 자신의 무의식적인 환상을 실현하기 때문이다. 슬라보예 지젝 (Slavoj Zizek)의 주장대로, 이 가짜 이미지는 대타자로도 알려져 있는 상징적인 질서에 의해 제한되지 않기 떄문에 유저에게는 더 가까운 정체성을 형성한다.; The purpose of this thesis is to understand how concepts such as identity and subjectivity are formed in online video games. Furthermore, this thesis explores the potential outcomes of a virtual environment that is able to render photo-realistic computer graphics. This thesis explores Black Mirror’s season 5 episode 1, “Striking Vipers”’s hypothetical scenario of a perfect immersion into virtual reality to explore how a subject’s unconscious desires are portrayed online and in video games. Virtual reality as depicted in “Striking Vipers” perfectly emulates the physical world which should be argued to impede the user’s enjoyment of online games as it would go beyond Masahiro Mori’s proposed “Uncanny Valley” in which there is an excessive amount of affinity for video game avatars. The main characters who experience this level of virtual reality sophistication unintentionally reveal repressed desires and muddle the boundaries of physical reality and virtual reality. Using a primarily psychoanalytic approach, this thesis aims to understand the mentality of the subject when engaged in online interactions also known as the user. Bolter and Grusin’s idea of “remediation” into online environments is necessary for a psychoanalytical understanding of the user. The user who remediates into online environments assumes a large variety of virtual identities. When the user identifies as an in-game avatar, the user re-experiences the Lacanian “mirror stage” insomuch as they identify with a mirror image. The user’s avatar performs as the objet petit a in which the user fulfills one’s unconscious fantasies through the avatar. As Slavoj Zizek claims, this false image is argued to be a more accurate identity for the user as this identity is not restricted by the symbolic order, otherwise known as the “big Other.”