Multiplicity, relationality, and petal avatars: Thatgamecompany’s Flower as an identity model

ABSTRACT

This article explores non-human looking avatars as models for alternative conceptions of identity. Thatgamecompany’s Flower is used here as the specific example of a more general model for Game and Cultural Studies scholars to think about the representation and reproduction of relationality and identity through avatars that are not designed to resemble human or animal-like beings. The avatar is discussed here in relation to its visual and aural configuration, the actions it affords, and the way controls are designed around it. Flower breaks with many of the standards and expectations that can be found in most games and, in doing so, it puts forward a notion of identity as an entanglement of humans, non-human beings, and objects. Game and Cultural Studies scholars interested in finding a broader, more diverse way of discussing identity representations will find here a useful resource.

KEYWORDS:

• Game Studies
• identity
• avatars
• multiplicity
• relationality
• flower
• indie

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Source: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-12-05-its-the-game-designers-job-to-evoke-different-sides-of-humanity, last accessed 3 March 2020.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci’ón y Universidades [PGC2018-095393-BI00].

Notes on contributors

Juan F. Belmonte Avila

Juan F. Belmonte is an Assistant Professor in English Studies at the University of Murcia, Spain. He has been a Fulbright Scholar (2009-2011) at Indiana University, a Fulbright-SAAS Postdoctoral Scholar (2020) at the University of Utah, and a visiting scholar at McGill University (2012), the IT University of Copenhagen (2013), and the University of Edinburgh (2022-23). His research focuses on the study of gender and sexuality in video games. He has been part of four State-funded Research Projects, the most recent of which is PGC2018-095393-BI00. In 2021 he chaired the international conference “Queer Temporalities in Literature, Cinema, and Video Games.”