Cute, cuddly, and completely crushable: plushies as avatars in videogames
Cute, cuddly, and completely crushable: plushies as avatars in videogames
This article examines video game avatars that are designed to resemble toys. It names this trope the ‘Blithe Child’ to capture the carefree, careless and childlike interactions this avatar invites. This article argues that the connection between the Blithe Child and traditional toys functions to express and explain non-violent game mechanics, to shape sentimental player‐avatar relationships, to create cosy, snug playspaces and to encourage pro-social, creative and self-expressive playstyles. However, the Blithe Child inherits some of the more sinister dynamics latent in human‐toy relationships, namely the desire to humiliate and mutilate the cute object and anxieties about what it means to be ‘real’ ‐ to be an independent, agential subject rather than a passive, manipulated, othered object. Drawing on theories derived from cuteness studies and toy studies, this article uses a close reading approach to critique the age-based hierarchies that underpin this trope.
Children’s literature toys, Close readings, Cuteness, Paidia childhood studies
131-149
Reay, Emma
07fd9558-6d41-426a-abba-c278b28a78f3
1 February 2022
Reay, Emma
07fd9558-6d41-426a-abba-c278b28a78f3
Reay, Emma
(2022)
Cute, cuddly, and completely crushable: plushies as avatars in videogames.
Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, 13 (2), .
(doi:10.1386/jgvw_00033_1).
Abstract
This article examines video game avatars that are designed to resemble toys. It names this trope the ‘Blithe Child’ to capture the carefree, careless and childlike interactions this avatar invites. This article argues that the connection between the Blithe Child and traditional toys functions to express and explain non-violent game mechanics, to shape sentimental player‐avatar relationships, to create cosy, snug playspaces and to encourage pro-social, creative and self-expressive playstyles. However, the Blithe Child inherits some of the more sinister dynamics latent in human‐toy relationships, namely the desire to humiliate and mutilate the cute object and anxieties about what it means to be ‘real’ ‐ to be an independent, agential subject rather than a passive, manipulated, othered object. Drawing on theories derived from cuteness studies and toy studies, this article uses a close reading approach to critique the age-based hierarchies that underpin this trope.
Text
JGVW_13_2_With watermark
- Version of Record
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 June 2021
Published date: 1 February 2022
Keywords:
Children’s literature toys, Close readings, Cuteness, Paidia childhood studies
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 471524
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/471524
ISSN: 1757-191X
PURE UUID: f01ad055-d0a5-4e05-beb6-59ff4ab79967
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 10 Nov 2022 17:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:15
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Emma Reay
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics