OASIS Lunch Time Talk: The Gamer Logic of “Selfies are Avatars”

The Gamer Logic of “Selfies are Avatars”: Toxic Masculinity and James Franco’s Strategic Vulnerability

CoE in Game Culture Studies presents a series of OASIS Lunch Time Talks and the first speaker is Tom Apperley with his talk "The Gamer Logic of 'Selfies are Avatars': Toxic Masculinity and James Franco’s Strategic Vulnerability."

Gamer logics are “context collapses” where paradigms developed in the techno-social contexts of videogames and play, particularly of ‘winning’ and ‘mastery’ are deliberately or unconsciously shifted into other domains. This talk explores how gamer logic impacts on selfies and other everyday forms of social media through the technical element of the avatar. While the avatar, in addition to other things, refers to a controllable object that represents the user in a virtual space, this term is also used both formally and informally to describe various elements of the ‘user profile’ on social media sites.

One key gamer logic of the avatar is that of “strategic vulnerability.” Which is a deliberate and toxic permeation of the ‘avatar’ that exposes the private, so-called “authentic” self. This gamer logic will be explored through an analysis of the writing and social media activity of Hollywood actor and celebrity James Franco, star of Your Highness (Green, 2011).

This event is free and open to all, welcome!

OASIS Lunch Time Talks