ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I draw on specific theories of acting to analyse the avatar-gamer and consider what these theories can tell us about being posthuman, and forming new subjectivities. I consider the ways in which acting theories that are based in a humanistic historical moment can be drawn upon to demonstrate the intra-dependence between self and other. Analysing gaming experiences through acting theory sheds a particular light on the avatar-gamer subjectivity and offers an opportunity to take forward certain practices from acting into our understanding of subjectivity. In acting, the relationship between actor and character could be theorised as one of mastery and control, but I “posthumanise” these theories by drawing on the more entangled aspects that demonstrate the reliance of each entity on one another. I examine autoethnographic fieldnotes from gaming and consider these in light of various ideas and techniques taken from Stanislavskian and Chekhovian acting practices. My background in performance and acting has allowed me to see the potentials in these often humanistic theories to be reconceptualised in a way that aligns with posthumanist approaches. I therefore discuss how we might begin to “posthumanise” such techniques, drawing on entanglement and post-anthropocentrism.
