Cordelia's Corpse: Dead as Earth

Sallie Anglin (author)

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Title	Cordelia's Corpse
Subtitle	Dead as Earth
Contributor	Sallie Anglin (author)
DOI	https://doi.org/10.21983/P3.0130.1.04
Landing page	https://punctumbooks.com/titles/object-oriented-environs/
License	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Copyright	Anglin, Sallie
Publisher	punctum books
Published on	2016-02-12
Long abstract	King Lear and video games have something in common. In most massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) a player’s character dies, but it isn’t permanent. For a moment after death, a player stares into her computer screen at her own corpse, her removed first-per-son perspective hovering over it, still attached to but disembodied from the avatar that allows her to experience the virtual space of the game. In this moment, the player knows she is dependent on that object, the body/corpse, that she has been forcibly separated from. The corpse’s existence is no longer fully dependent on the player. In this moment, the video game player who is housed in the avatar, in the player character, becomes an audience to her own corpse. She’s watching the story of flesh in digital form. The unreal creates an actual agential demise of the player, at least momentarily.
Page range	pp. 9–16
Print length	8 pages
Language	English (Original)

King Lear and video games have something in common. In most massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) a player’s character dies, but it isn’t permanent. For a moment after death, a player stares into her computer screen at her own corpse, her removed first-per-son perspective hovering over it, still attached to but disembodied from the avatar that allows her to experience the virtual space of the game. In this moment, the player knows she is dependent on that object, the body/corpse, that she has been forcibly separated from. The corpse’s existence is no longer fully dependent on the player. In this moment, the video game player who is housed in the avatar, in the player character, becomes an audience to her own corpse. She’s watching the story of flesh in digital form. The unreal creates an actual agential demise of the player, at least momentarily.