Beyond Human: Becoming an Animal in Games
During graduate school, one of my classes focused on the intersection of video games and topics outside of that industry. We were given a list of topics to choose from and give a presentation on. I chose to do mine on becoming an animal in VR, but found myself identifying a number of issues that needed to be addressed before. This article is a result of that research, and will be focused on how to turn a player into an animal, not just from a visual angle, but as a whole. This requires important considerations for all aspects of creation, with numerous principles and behaviors being tied to the tasks. Let’s cut these ties and view this ocean of considerations and principles. Diving deep, however, requires one to step into the shallows first. So let's begin with simply, human perceptions.
Yes, this is important
There are always inherent biases when it comes to human perception. Human characters are bound to stereotypes; people will have a picture of who that character is even before engaging with them. Of course, this does often get utilized in character and narrative design, but what if the designers wish to escape these biases? Do they use animals? Sure, on paper. Animals aren't constrained to the same biases as humans, yet this brings forth another issue. Humans themselves have biases towards animals, be they cultural or individual, and they often get overlooked. There's a reason why animal characters are the species they are; there's a reason why some people choose animals as personal branding. Need two groups with tensions; make them cats and dogs, and they can be like cats and dogs. Need a sly trickster? Across cultures, foxes have got you on that front. Want an underdog with odds stacked against them? If that character is a mouse, then they will start at the bottom of the food chain.
But the latter leads to something interesting: these biases are inconsistent. A mouse is seen differently from a rat, and even within a species, differences arise. Why would some people think a group of large rats to be cute and funny, but others make a kingdom of these be oppressive and antagonistic? It stems from one's perspective. Let’s think about Canids as an example. Dingos and coyotes are often maligned, seen as threats and nuisances due to their impact on farming and other human activities, while the beloved dog is “man’s best friend.” But even that’s still a wide gulf, so let me ask you this: what do you think of wolves? A hunter may see them as competition, a farmer a threat, a conservationist an important keystone, an indigenous person a spiritual symbol. The range of answers to this is emblematic of the range of biases around them formed by the subjects' lived experiences.
Except there is something else here. Are foxes always sneaky and cunning? Will cats and dogs always truly bicker?
No.
These biases stem from human perception, often interpreting the animal's actions through human lenses. This leads to the lovely concept of anthropomorphism, that is, the application of human traits and characteristics to non-human entities. This creates what is essentially a human character within an animal coat, and this is what is often engaged with in media. Anthropomorphism exists as a spectrum, applying to furries, to cartoons, to myths, to even more interesting depictions, such as Mouse Guard, where the characters are humans in terms of personhood, yet are still mice within the world they inhabit.
Now, how does any of this apply to becoming an animal in VR? Well, simply, to truly become beyond human, anthropomorphism must be shed. Anthropomorphism is not a negative thing, as it helps humans understand and relate to the natural world, but it is inherently connected to humanity. Animals' minds, their thoughts and emotions, are relatively alien to human ones. While there are shared base drives, an animal's perspective is deeply different than a human’s. Proper transhumanism involves understanding and integrating the change in perspectives that comes from going beyond human. In this context, an animal should simply be an animal.
Now, however, how would one go about convincing the human that they are in a different perspective? That their goals are different? That they are experiencing something alien to them? Is there a way to get them to do this willingly? Luckily, there’s an interesting ritual humans do where they utilize temporary laws to govern their actions and do stuff they normally wouldn’t do. What is that called again?
It's games and play. There’s a fascinating rabbit hole surrounding how exactly humans engage with games and how their actions change, but to keep it brief, I’ll only cover some surface concepts of ludology. As previously mentioned, at their core, games of all types are formed of rules that participants follow of their own will in order to engage in ways separated from their normal reality. When these rules are in place, a conceptual space called a magic circle is created where the created reality of the game overlays reality. Nothing states that a magical circle must be constrained by the fictional. In fact, realism is a goal the game industry chases like Icarus approaching the sun. The melting has already begun. The trick is to push away from human realism and focus instead on a realism engaging with a specific animal. Animal behaviors can be identified through zoological processes and abstracted into gameplay, such as specific diets or interactions with other species. Animal conditions and biology can also be abstracted to gameplay, such as through movement design and visuals. The only complication here is the knowledge of the animal being adapted. In order to truly convince the player of their new temporary role, the abstractions must be sold as well as possible. VR helps with this. While within a VR game, the magic circle becomes a directly intractable space. The players aren’t just engaging with the rules and control while in VR, but are given, well, a virtual reality that overlays physical reality. This does lead to a heavy necessity, however, the project must be convincingly immersive.
Immersion is a scale. “Bold words from the game designer,” I know, but look, I swear it's important to bring up. The best way of explaining this in brief would be point of view within books, ie, 3rd person, 2nd person, 1st person, and their variants. These each have different levels of immersion between a reader and the characters, and are often utilized in different manners in order to utilize that immersion. In video games, this is a lot more complicated. theres the camera PoV of 3rd and 1st, the story’s pov of 3rd, 2nd, or 1st, and gameplay PoV, a more complicated topic. Essentially, a game’s gameplay pov is how change is enacted within the game. For example, is a game controlled by commanding characters to do things as an observer who gets all the information, such as an RTS? Then the game has a 3rd person gameplay pov. A 2nd person game is when the player has a presence seen within the game, yet does not directly control a character. A complicated concept that's made more understandable through examples like the game Moss. 1st is simply directly controlling a character. Ironically, game genres called 3rd person (whatever) are actually 1st person in terms of gameplay pov. Incorporating VR furthers immersion. 3rd person gameplay begins to feel like the player is a god controlling their subjects or a commander viewing live action as it happens, 2nd gives the player a closer connection to the target character and their actions, while 1st, well…
VR was made for first-person, in all senses of the term, except for also being good with 2nd person narrative, and this makes going beyond humanism, to give the player a hint of transhumanism, a simple no-brainer with the technology.
“Why thought?” I feel as if some of you may be thinking that.
Because game designers can. That's it, really. Game designers are the architects of artificial worlds, makers of completely new experiences. Humans grow and progress when they are given new experiences and new viewpoints. It's why stories have so much power, and by merging that with games, it gets amplified even further. Why do games have predefined characters as their playable character? To give the player a crafted experience. This is the same principle here: give the players a new lens to interact with the world with. Even outside of the concept of transhumanism, of going beyond human, becoming an animal in VR has merit, be it to communicate a message of how these animals live, challenges they face, or just to offer something unique, something different. Besides, I can’t be alone with wanting to see how my players would respond to this sort of experience.
There is one final kicker, however. Even if you don’t find yourself aiming to push your audience beyond human, engage with these topics when you make games. Understand the biases that you may deal with, learn where they come from, and identify your own. Experiment with ludic principles, expand from what's the norm, and see how you can engage players. Identify how you wish to approach immersion, mix PoVs, and find what best sells the experience you are crafting. You don’t have to make your players into animals in VR in order to truly immerse them! Give them new experiences, be it as an animal or something else!
