Avatar Animation and Player-Game Relation in Video Games

In many video games, an avatar is the entry-point into the game system and therefore essential for the manipulation of the surrounded virtual world. It can be seen as an instrument for the player to interact with the game environment but also as an important element of the game world itself. As the reference point of the fictional world, the avatar enables, reasons and limits our agency but simultaneously maintains a certain distance to the player. Especially, Avatarswith their own personality reflect not only the individual gamer through their actions and manifestations but also their situatedness in the fictional world.Their programmed animation, player induced or autonomous, can support the narration and offer an object for identification as well as motivate or even stop the player from interacting with the system. Therefore, they are characterized by their status as hybrids, oscillating between the actions of the player’s physical body and their own digital (bodily) representation. Firstly, this presentation will provide a theoretical insight into avatar theory and its impact on the player-game relation and secondly, illustrate some examples of avatar animation in selected contemporary video games.