Push, Press, Become: Tactility Linked to Identity Configurations in Video Games

Abstract

Cultural Studies and Game Studies analyses of video games often pay attention to the rules that articulate these media texts, the computer code used to write these games, and the visual and aural components utilised to represent game worlds and, sometimes, tell stories. All of these elements have a definite impact on the ways ideology is produced and reproduced by video games and, yet, the tactile interactions required to play games are often forgotten. This article highlights the importance of tactility when analysing identity discourses present in video games and expands forms of understanding representation beyond visual and sound-based components.