A construção lúdica de si-mesmo: subjetivação, identidade e narrativa no jogo The Sims

Abstract

Even though academic studies about games have only recently started being pursued, they show great promise in the area of interdisciplinary research, especially in regard to the humanities. This master's thesis attempts to study the process of identity formation, and the central question here is whether the existence of a virtual representation of the self can contribute to the construction of personal identity. Participants in this study were ten players of The Sims, a real life simulation game. We utilized a qualitative methodology, conducting two semi-structured interviews with each subject. Questions focused on potential sources of confusion between “real” and “virtual” (the avatars in the game) representations of the self. The content obtained in the interviews has been analysed through the technique of content analysis proposed by Laurence Bardin. Through the analysis of the interviews, it was possible to perceive how the simulation allowed subjects to reflect upon the process of identity formation. We propose the concept of “extended identity” in order to account for the way in which there is a continuation of the subjects' personal identities over the “virtual” platform which is the game itself. This notion of “extending” personal identity was observed in the interviews, as well as in the subjects' motivations for playing and the process of character creation. Another important point is that The Sims offers a ludic environment of relatively carefree experimentation as regards personal identity. The game's performance allows one to be, so to speak, several different people, and thus to exercise a number of different possibilities of belonging, acceptance of differences and other experiences which may later be faced in real life. Our final category of analysis is that of narrative, in which we study the way the game's narratives are shaped by Maslow's pyramid, but at the same time there is some room for the creation and recreation of narratives that extrapolate that model. We confirm our initial hypothesis, namely, that a ludic conception of the construction of identity is able to account for the processes of subjectivation that occur among players of The Sims.