Utilizing a relational framework that follows Coleman’s Becoming of Bodies (Coleman 2008) and Radical Relationality (Powell 2013), Brett’s talk examines elements of problematic design surrounding two virtual worlds: World of Warcraft (Blizzard 2004) and VRChat (VRChat Inc. 2017). Expanding previous work on the erasure of queer bugs in WoW (Brett 2018), Brett works to map how the production, maintenance, or transformations of avatarbodies are limited or extended via material implications of misogyny and transphobia embedded inprovided avatar design features and community expectations. Through an understanding of avatarbodies as either becoming through discrete or continuous time, digital scholarship can moreholistically work to uncover how hateful rhetoric materializes on avatar bodies through the effects ofthe relations between time, online communities, platforms, and development teams.

Notice DiGRA 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19. The panel with this presentation was resubmitted and accepted for DiGRA 2022


Citation (ACM)

Noel Brett. 2022. Discrete and Continuous Becoming: Temporality, and Design Practices in VRChat and World of Warcraft. In Versioning Worlds: Digital Histories, Temporalities, and Change. Panel presented at the Digital Games Research Association Conference: Bringing Worlds Together (DiGRA'22). July 7–11, 2022, Kraków, Poland.

Noel Brett. 2020. Discrete and Continuous Becoming: Temporality, and Design Practices in VRChat and World of Warcraft. In Versioning Worlds: Digital Histories, Temporalities, and Change. Panel presented at the Digital Games Research Association Conference: Play Everywhere (DiGRA'20), June 2–6, 2020, Tampere, Finland.