Body Count

The document, an extended abstract for a presentation titled "Body Count," explores the representation of bodies, particularly focusing on ability and disability, within video games. The central thesis posits that games, through their mechanics and narratives, materialize versions of ability and disability, often conflating happiness with achievement and agency, and disability with loss or obstruction. The analysis draws on existing scholarship in disability studies, cultural theory, and game studies.

The work is divided into two main aspects. The first examines metaphor, applying Mitchell and Snyder's concept of "narrative prosthesis" to games. It suggests that impairments in on-screen bodies materialize the game's fictional themes, while gameplay itself materializes ability through measurement and scoring. This is explored using Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016) as a case study, focusing on the traumatized protagonist and the game's dystopian setting. This section also considers the "normate" body in games, its status, instability, and intersectionality with gender and migrant identity.

The second part connects disability histories with contemporary happiness studies, drawing on Soderfeldt and Verstraete's work. It investigates how goal attainment, ability, and happiness are framed as synonymous, and how historical discourses have constructed disability as incompatible with productivity and happiness. The analysis again references Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, specifically protagonist Adam Jensen, to explore how games accommodate competing views on happiness by linking it to inherent attributes, goal attainment, and effort. The overall scope is theoretical and analytical, focusing on specific game examples to illustrate broader concepts of representation and ideology within the medium. The research is supported by the AHRC as part of a larger collaborative project.