ABSTRACT
The chapter analyses how avatars are constructed as disabled or non-disabled. The article argues that an analysis of digital games must include their narrative, audiovisual, simulative, and ludic elements. With a background in Critical Disability Studies and discourse analysis, the two playable characters from Mass Effect 2 are analysed. While the game constructs Shepard as an autonomous, more-than-able-bodied subject, Joker is constructed twofold: While in cutscenes and dialogues he is portrayed as a brave and funny pilot, playing him is an experience of deficiency. At the same time, Mass Effect 2 as well as most other shooter games define vulnerability as a burden that can be overcome by playing good.
