Online Games, offline selves: A
possible selves approach to
offline self-concept negotiation
by wheelchair users of Virtual
Worlds.
Aleks Krotoski
Julie Barnett, Evanthia Lyons
SPERI
University of Surrey

Overview
• Disability and the internet
• Theoretical approach: Possible Selves
• Context
• Method
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions

Disability and the Internet
• Freedom of access (Houlihan et al, 2003)
– The internet “…has the potential to mediate the
impact of impairment on social isolation and assure a
higher level of social participation” (p. 422)
– Physical and social access engenders a sense of self-
efficacy, independence and control
• A “level playing field” (Bowker & Tuffin, 2002)
– The online environment promotes anonymity, which
encourages the presentation of an “un-marked” self
– Agency over self-identity
– Control over power dynamics
– BUT Passing = “Normalisation” of the internet?

Possible Selves
(Marcus & Nurius, 1986)
• People develop through imagined notions of who they
want to become, who they are afraid of becoming and
what they believe about their potential
• Multiplicitous
• Motivational
• Symbolic representations
• A link between self-concept and behaviour
– Self concept: “a complex and dynamic phenomenon perpetually
in-progress through the adoption and rejection of possible
selves”
• Formed through social comparison
• “Tried on”
• Assimilated into identity structure through trial and error

An example -the context
• Online games
• Identity
• Physical ability

Aims, RQs and hypotheses
Research Questions
• In what way do wheelchair users develop possible selves online?
• What kinds of possible selves are created?
• How do possible selves present themselves?
• What are the offline effects of the online possible selves?
Hypotheses:
• Game-designed mastery and reward or failure and punishment will
enhance the adoption or rejection of online possible selves into offline
self-concept.
• The social interaction element of the online game context will encourage
the adoption or rejection of possible selves.
• The goal-oriented design of online games will encourage users to try on
possible selves in a “safe” space
• The absence of physical restriction will encourage online users in
wheelchairs to adopt possible selves that emphasise access, physicality
and control.

Method
• Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
(Smith, 1996)
– Experiential
– Holistic
– Non-problematic
• Semi-structured interviews
• Highly structured analytic process

Participants
• 5 wheelchair users with severe physical
disabilities (C5 or C6 spinal cord injuries)
– 1 = since birth
– 2 = 10+ years
– 1 = 5-10 years
– 1 = 2-5 years
• 3 current online game players
• Age 19-42 years
• Playtime = 26-40 hours per week
• Length of time = 2+ years

Results: Themes
• Development of in-game roles related to out-of-
game possible selves
– Ways in which possible selves are negotiated in-
game
– Online role choices and social histories
• Social representations of physical disability
• The medium’s effect on the possible selves that
were developed
– Flexibility
– In-game feedback for goal-directed actions
– Social feedback
– Multiple characters

Ways in which possible selves are
negotiated in-game
You do get this thing, you know, that you are the one
walking down the stairs, you are the one pointing the
gun, you are the one turning left, even if you can’t in real
life. If you want to turn left you can turn left. (Marcus)
I've been imagining myself being able to walk, fly, pilot a
starship for a long time. Being in a virtual world, able to
walk or fly, isn't too new a concept for me. I'd say, for
me, my experience in a wheelchair probably makes it as
difficult to reorient my view of walking as it is for
someone who does walk -- I'd like to think I have an
edge in the "no preconceived mindsets of...how to work
in strange, difficult environments." (Aaron)

The medium’s effect on the
development of possible selves
• In-game feedback for goal-directed actions
– Success of developing an online character shows me
that I can do anything I want, if I try. (Jon)
– it’s a challenge to control the game with the controls
that I use and I think that when I do that I think there
are other things I can be persistent at. (Marcus)
• Social feedback
– I suppose just thinking that I can do things, yeah. You
know, you start to be able to play a game and you
think, well I can play that as well as someone else
can. So, yeah, that, that does help. A positive
attitude, I suppose, it does make you feel more
positive in general, definitely. (Marcus)

Discussion
• Fabricate implausible possible selves
resulting in diffuse affective results in
offline self-concepts
– Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977)
– Support for Social Model of Disability
• Exploring (their own and) others’
understandings of physical disability

Conclusions and Future Research
• Researchers cannot assume that
crossover between online and offline
occurs in a general way, but that it is
driven by the aspects of offline identity that
are brought to the medium by individuals
• Explore different “Nationalities”

Thanks!
Aleks Krotoski
SPERI
A.Krotoski@Surrey.ac.uk