Virtual bodies (avatars) and sport exercises: some important thoughts

Abstract

In sport sociology several studies and theoretical research examine the body and emerging technologies, whereas discussions on exercise and virtual bodies (Avatars) are limited. In line with the accelerated developments in computer graphics and especially advanced computer interfaces, this study seeks to explain how the sport exercises of avatars could be a significant theme in sport sociological analysis. We are looking for explanations and an understanding of the novel forms of (sport) embodiment which could unavoidably arise in the case of avatar exercises through very complicated, and in many ways, paradoxical interactions and interpenetrations between the physical body and the virtual body. This theoretical study, based on interdisciplinary literature and research data, adds to the formulation of a more coherent theoretical model, which could be useful to future researchers.

Keywords:

• Virtual body
• physical body
• virtual exercises
• embodiment
• virtual sport identity

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the editor and the reviewers for their helpful and supportive comments and suggestions.

Notes

1 Research indicates that this continues to be an open question: i.e. Crawford & Gosling, 2009; Thiel & John, 2018).

2 The sensation, the feeling that ‘this is my body’, the feeling that ‘my body’ belongs to me, the body I inhabit is ‘my own’, and ever-present in my mental life, is called body-ownership (Tsakiris, 2010).

3 Presence has many versions and dimensions, such as self-presence, social presence, spatial presence etc. Presence appears as a very contested term in a broad range of academic disciplines: computer sciences, neuroscience, social sciences, philosophy, etc. (Badiou, 2006; Lee, 2004; Taylor, 2002). Initially, in this study, the sense of presence is understood as a feeling of immersion when exposed to a virtual environment (Vogt et al., 2015), the feeling, the sense of ‘being there’, inside the virtual world. This sensation of being there is psychological state in which virtual objects are experienced in sensory and non-sensory ways as actual (Lee, 2004). However, only a few studies have investigated the neural responses that underlie the sense of presence perception (Vogt et al., 2015).

4 This methodological distinction between the body and embodiment has led in many cases to the disregarding of the biological body from explanations of social life in postmodern sociological thought: i.e. social constructionist explanations of the body (Papoulias & Callard, 2010; Shilling, 2003, 2005) and to a great extent, in sport sociological thought as well, and of course not without reason (see Pringle & Falcous, 2018; Probyn, 2000; Thorpe, 2014).

5 In line with these arguments, our thinking develops beyond the mind-body dilemma. Interdisciplinary research show that the Cartesian body-mind separation is insufficient for understanding the origin of perception, thought and behavior (Papoulias & Callard, 2010). We cannot think of the body and mind, reason, and emotion as separate systems (Butryn & Masucci, 2003; Freund, 1990; Varela et al., 1991).

6 This concept is understood in a variety of ways in different scientific fields, but also within the same scientific field because it is strongly related to contemporary thinking on self and identities (Dobbyn & Stuart, 2003; Schubert & Koole, 2009; Shilling, 2005).

7 The appearance of an inner world in the case of simulation which is based on the bodily motions (exercises) of the avatar, controlled by the user, can also penetrate the body and mind of the user. It can also model/formulate the user’s internal experiences which occur whether or not the moving object, the exercising avatar, has intelligence or intentionality (Biocca, 1997). The avatar is a thing which is perceived from our conscious, not as a being but as a phenomenon (Merleau-Ponty, 1962, p. 345). As a phenomenon itself, it is then a product of the structure of our own cognitive system (Varela et al., 1991, p. 11).

8 In the philosophical thinking of Badiou (2006) and in the perspective of the power set axiom, a set is a structured presentation, that can be understood as a multiple, or multiplicity. Accordingly, presence—i.e. the sensation of being inside a Virtual Fitness Club (VFC) by means of an avatar as medium for representation—can be conceived as a multiplicity, as a set that embodies the physical and the virtual body. Badiou (2006, p. 25) equates presentation with situation: ‘a term of a situation is what that situation presents and counts as one.’ In this context, situation is any type of presented multiplicity, e.g. a virtual FC. The situation is the place and the taking place of bodily exercises in a virtual environment. We suppose the physical body is a given set (α), an existing multiple and the virtual body (β) is a subset (or part) of α, meaning it is included (or represented) in α. Mathematically this is written β ⊂ α. Every multiple is thought without unity or totality, with two distinguished types of relations between them: Belonging (ϵ), i.e. multiple as element of another multiple, and inclusion (⊂), i.e. multiple as part (or subset) of another multiple. In fact, the power set axiom posits that all multiples included in a set belong to another set. If a set α exists then there also exists the set of all subsets of α, written P(α): [β∈P(α)] ↔(β⊂α). Following this line of thinking, we can consider the Virtual Fitness Club (VFC) as a multiplicity, or situation-set in which the virtual body performs exercises. The virtual body (β) belongs to the situation-set VFC (presentation) and is equally included in the situation (representation). Mathematically, this is written β ∈ VFC and β⊂ VFC (because β∈ P(VFC)). Consequently, β is a term-part in the situation VFC. However, the physical body is included (represented) in the situation-set but not presented: α ⊂ VFC and α∉ VFC (but α∈ P(VFC)). It follows that α is a part in the situation VFC. From the viewpoint within the situation-set VFC, the physical body (α) is represented without being present. However, it is presented (belongs to) the state of the situation-set, P(VFC), that conditions or regulates the interactions and interpenetrations between the physical body (α) and the virtual body (β). In other words, the physical body can be considered a part of the VFC.

9 A detailed analysis of studies focusing on the concept body- ownership reveals an ‘other body’, a reproduction or representation of a human body, and in this case the exercising virtual body could trigger an experience of ownership (Tsakiris, 2010). Even avatars with non-anthropomorphic shapes can be embodied by human beings-subjects (Aymerich-Franch & Ganesh, 2016).

10 In the phenomenological framework, consciousness is not understood as an abstract disembodied entity: the senses and feelings are not only expressed through mental activities, but through the mind and the body acting as a unity (Freund, 1990).

11 Goffman’s (1959) classic theory of self-presentation, complex intraself negotiations, identity and social performance could be useful in such sport sociological issues. Especially when it comes to discrepancies between virtual ideal self which a given person aspires to have but may not be able to maintain in physical life and the self-manifested in daily behaviors and interactions in physical life.

12 In this perspective even disability in the virtual sport places is invisible and irrelevant (Kamberidou et al., 2019; Patsantaras & Kamberidou, 2017).

13 Additionally, in view of the current global Covid-19 pandemic—necessitating social distancing and lockdowns—sport sociologists need investigate further and discuss the social effects of exercising at home, among other things. As people no longer visit their fitness clubs or gyms, virtual reality technologies—such as Exergaming (Exercise + gaming) platforms: Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox Kinect etc.—could provide alternative solutions. Exergaming combines video games and virtual reality technologies, requiring the user to apply full body motion to participate in virtual sports, in group fitness exercises or other interactive physical activities (social interaction). This gives him/her (the user) the opportunity to establish or retain a healthy lifestyle, a sporting identity and sporting selfhood during this health crisis. Clearly, research is required to confirm this hypothesis, including studies on the social effects of exergames which are also limited (see among others: Li et al., 2018).