Computer games as a part of culture suggest a variety of practices of gamer’s body organisation, its assemblage, discipline, construction. Still they suppose zones of resistance to normalisation through experiments (from speedrunning to performances, etc.). Such hacking of the emerging corporeal schemes is analysed through the concept “haptivism”.

1. Haptivism. Technics of
Body in Computer Games
Alina LATYPOVA,
Laboratory for Computer Games Research
Alexander LENKEVICH,
Laboratory for Computer Games Research

2. PainStation
Museum of Computer
Games (Berlin)

3. Liberty Bell

4. Computer games offer us not only
a variety of representation
techniques, but also performative
techniques. Action, movement
(Nørgaard 2010), body thinking
(Kamper 1997), etc. Which is also
related to the technologies of
immersion, involvement,
incorporation (Calleja 2011).

5. Production of Presence (H.U.Gumbrecht)

6. Procedural corporeality
The procedural corporeality is working not on the level of
representation or ideas, it works on the ontological level.

7. Gamer’s body control

8. Cybersport

9. Speedrunning

10. Calculations (core of computer technologies) emancipates the
imagination of players, on the other hand, inscribes them in additional
regulatory standards, which are also related to the elaboration of
corporeal experience in the development of controllers, interfaces, and
game rules (Kirkpatrick 2009).

11. Games are torture of the body

13. Gamer’s Body Setting
• Consoles
• PC
• Mobile
• VR, AR

14. Xbox 360 Xbox One Xbox Series X

15. Dualsense

16. Export of game experience: gamepads on
submarines

19. D-pad

20. PC

23. Mobile

25. VR / AR

26. More VR…

27. And more…

29. Pneumatically-Actuated Jacket

30. ShapeShift

31. Kissenger

32. The controllers not only play
the role of mediators of the
gaming experience, but also
form it (Blomberg 2018).

33. Body as a Tool

34. Tool-wielding Body

35. Dys-appearance of
Body

36. Haptivism
(haptos + active)
Hacking of the
corporeal experience in
computer games.

39. Porting

42. Hacking (consoles)
DiGRA 2018

44. Gigantomachie

45. O-Zone

46. O-zone
Explain instructions to
your partner to restore
the oxygen rate

47. HOMIES
(My Homunculi)

48. Super Mario in the park

49. Banana
controller

50. Там-там
контроллер

51. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013)

52. References:
• Blomberg, J. (2018). The Semiotics of the Game Controller. Game Studies. The international journal of computer game research. Vol. 18
(2).
• Bolter, J.D., Grusin, R. (1999). Remediation: Understanding new media. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
• Boluk, S., Jayemanne, D., Keogh, B., Lemieux, P. (2018). An Embodied Turn: Game Studies Across Worlds and Bodies. In: Digra 2018. The
Game is the Message.
• Calleja, G. (2011). In-Game: From Immersion to Incorporation. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
• Foottit, J., Brown, D., Marks, S., Connor, A. M. (2016). A wearable haptic game controller. International Journal of Game Theory &
Technology, 2(1), 1-19. DOI: 10.5121/ijgtt.2016.2101
• Kamper, D. (1997). GeistesGegenwart und KörperDenken. Paragrana, Heft 6/1997: Selbstfremdheit. P. 247–267.
• Keogh, B. (2018) A Play of Bodies: How We Perceive Videogames. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
• Kirkpatrick, G. (2009). Controller, Hand, Screen: Aesthetic Form in the Computer Game. Games and Culture, 4(2), 127–143.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412008325484
• McLuhan, M. (2001). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. London: Routledge.
• McQuire, S. (2008). The Media City: Media, Architecture and Urban Space. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. DOI:
10.4135/9781446269572
• Nørgaard, R. T. (2010). The Body under the Mask: Unveiling the corporeal practice of gamers. Under the Mask 2010: Perspectives on
the Gamer.
• Parisi, D., Paterson, M., & Archer, J. E. (2017). Haptic media studies. New Media & Society, 19(10), 1513–1522.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817717518
• Sicart, M. (2017). Queering the Controller. Analogue Game Studies. http://analoggamestudies.org/2017/07/queering-the-controller/
• StudioMDHR. (2017) Cuphead. PC. Canada: StudioMDHR.

53. Thank you for your attention!
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