Computer Games and the Aesthetic Practices of the Self: Wandering, Transformation, and Transfiguration A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in the Faculty of Humanities 2016 Feng Zhu The School of Social Sciences Department of Sociology Contents page Introduction 9 The aesthetic practices of the self 11 Refusing who we are 15 The ambivalence of computer games 18 Practices, patterns, and ethoi 23 Thesis outline 27 Some preliminary qualifications 29 Chapter one: The work on the self 34 Foucault and the refusal of who we are 35 An ethics that was an aesthetics of existence 38 Foucault on the ambivalence of self-construction 42 Neoliberalism and periodisation 44 Conceptualising the body as ‗deep‘ 49 The ancients‘ guidelines for good practice 55 From the personal to the impersonal 61 Chapter two: Beyond games of rehearsal: ethopoiesis and the identification with a process 66 Disciplinary games of Empire 67 Identifying with a process 75 Thinking like a computer 81 Subjectification and the active relation to ‗truth‘ 93 Chapter three: Computer game ‘rationalities’ and the orthogonal analysis 98 The conditions under which the practices of the self take place 99 The bridging between player-centrism and game-centrism 103 Aarseth‘s first reason 106 Aarseth‘s second reason 112 The ‗implied player‘ as putative solution 117 2 Rational schemas, modes of generalisation and player typologies 121 Chapter four: Ambivalent asceses in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 136 Playing on the boundaries of the ‗gameplay condition‘ 137 Levelling up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 141 Player typologies 146 Ambivalent asceses 150 Anticipation and deferral 156 The work on the gamic ‗self‘ 163 Chapter five: The mediation of play in the aesthetic practices of the self 170 The forgotten coercion 172 Schiller‘s Spieltrieb 176 The non-cognitive basis 185 The symmetry of the Stofftrieb and Formtrieb 189 The Dionysian and the Apollonian 191 The challenge to our ethical norms? 196 Conclusion 202 References 205 Games 226 Thesis word count: 87,990 3 List of figures 1. Levelling-up, Attribute increases, and a motivational message. (in-game screenshot) 150 List of tables 1. Acquiring experience points in Oblivion. Source: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Increasing_Skills 143- 144 2. Vicariously realising things about yourself through a game character (level-up messages in Oblivion). Source: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Leveling. 165 4 Abstract Computer Games and the Aesthetic Practices of the Self: Wandering, Transformation, and Transfiguration Feng Zhu The University of Manchester, Ph.D. Sociology, 2016 This thesis draws on Michel Foucault‘s late work on the practices of the self to ask whether the ascetic practices and patterns of action suggested by contemporary computer games, which afford players the opportunities to pursue their own self-set goals, further what might be called a ‗wandering‘ away from ourselves, a ‗transformation‘ or ‗transfiguration‘ of what we are. If self-formation is now a terrain on which power and resistance plays out, it is critical to be able to identify pernicious practices that may bind us to the individualising techniques of power, as opposed to transformative ones that enable us to refuse who we are in the move towards freedom. Broaching this question leads to considerations of the implicit ethical foundations presupposed by Foucault‘s anti-normative ethico-aesthetics, and the limitations of its appeal to a coherence or style seemingly without rules. These considerations have implications for the way in which we understand the practices of self-constitution in computer games. I question whether there is an isomorphism between the way in which power – understood through Foucault‘s concept of ‗governmentality‘ – works in the present, and the way in which computer games set the conditions under which player practices take place. We are prompted by both to develop a non-coercive relation to a ‗truth‘ through an impetus that originates from us. Computer games are about our identification with processes, which are strengthened by the feedback loops in the game and by the mode of being we elect to adopt as a hexis. Such a structure, however, is insufficiently rigid for computer games to produce discrete subjectivities, and analyses of them must be sensitive as to whether there are any systematic concatenation of player responses. To this end, I suggest a framework, based on Foucault‘s orthogonal understanding of power-subject, for uncovering the ‗rationalities‘ within games, which are the conditions under which players‘ practices of the self take place, and which give rise to certain practices of self-constitution over others. It depends on our being able to find or infer player typologies, which are then analysed for their similar patterns of action. This framework is applied to a case study: levelling-up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. On the basis of six typologies, a prominent structure of calculative anticipation and deferral emerges, as well as the existence of what is called a super-instrumental approach. In order to disambiguate these findings with respect to their transformative potential, I turn to the transcendental signifiers in Foucault‘s work and consider the practices of the self as seeking a balance between reason and sense – they are revisited through the lens of Schiller‘s play drive. This concretises the argument that if the practices of the self are thought capable of moving us towards freedom, we must assume the existence of non-cognitive faculties within us that, when engaged, enable us to be able to distinguish between positive and pernicious self-formation. Given that these judgments cannot be cognitively communicated, we ought to refrain from prescriptivism, yet do have recourse to standards. However, our efforts to cognitively understand this aesthetic interplay between reason and sense are certainly not without importance. 5 Declaration I declare that no portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 6 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the ―Copyright‖) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. 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Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=24420), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library‘s regulations (see http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/regulations/) and in The University‘s policy on Presentation of Theses 7 Acknowledgements I owe a special thanks to Graeme Kirkpatrick for his commitment and enthusiasm for the project, which has made these four years a very rewarding and enjoyable time. I am indebted to him for introducing me to Foucault‘s late work on the practices of the self, and for many other ideas that have formed the foundations of this thesis. I will remember our long discussions as ones that have been pivotal in developing my critical perspective. I would also like to thank Kaye Mitchell, who has continually prompted me to hone my ideas further, and Nick Crossley, who has always been incisive in his comments at each of the annual reviews, and given me many insights into Foucault‘s work. I‘d also like to thank Malcom Bull and Nicholas Thoburn. It has been a pleasure to meet those working in the area of computer game scholarship. I would like to thank some of the following for exchanges that have added so much to my understanding: Andreas Gregersen, Veli-Matti Karhulahti, Adam Nash, Tobias Winnerling, Bjarke Liboriussen, Olli Leino, Sebastian Möring, William Huber, Stefano Gualeni, Paul Martin, Ben Nicoll, Rune Klevjer, Paolo Ruffino, Tomasz Majkowski, Andrew Elliott, Thi Nguyen, Lars de Wildt, Hans-Joachim Backe, Tonguç İbrahim Sezen, Niklas Schrape, John Richard Sageng, Daniel Vella, Hanna Wirman, Mathias Fuchs, William Brown, Adam Chapman, Souvik Mukherjee, Johnathan Harrington, Francesca Borg Taylor-East, and many others. I am particularly indebted to Ying Ying Law, Veli-Matti Karhulahti, Bjarke Liboriussen, Emma Fraser, and Ben Nicoll, who read and commented on earlier drafts of various chapters. Many thanks are due to my fellow Ph.D. colleagues at the University of Manchester for their friendship over the years: Emma Fraser, Clancy Wilmott, Kirsty Morrin, Tom Redshaw, Pete Lampard, Jamie Matthews, Gagun Chinna, Samantha Foster, Sebastian Juhnke, and others. My parents, Lifei Zhang and Ying Yang Zhu, have always been endlessly generous and supportive. This work is dedicated to them. I would like to thank both the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the University of Manchester‘s President‘s Doctoral Scholar Award (PDS) for generously funding the Ph.D.