We Are Playing Witcher: Pronoun Usage (Part 2)

Last month I made a post about the various pronouns I use while playing or talking about games in I am Geralt: Pronoun Usage (Part 1). This is the 2nd installment of that series in which I will be focusing on my use of "we" - when meaning me and chat - in terms of Irving Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life which I also mentioned in the 1st post. In particular, I will be looking at the performative nature of this use and how this performance seems to fail just as often as not. And in case the phrase "everyday life" in the title here didn't tip you off, I will be taking some liberties - or more accurately, I will be using this work in an unconventional manner. Of course, it was published in the 1950s so it's not like it was written for analysis of Twitch or The Witcher.

OK, enough with the heavy intro. I mentioned talking about failure, so let's start the death counter!

How I feel after silent streams.

In this book, Goffman uses dramaturgical perspectives to "consider the way in which the individual in ordinary work situations presents himself and his activity to others, the ways in which he guides and controls the impression they form of him, and the kinds of things he may and may not do while sustaining his performance before them" (xi). Or in other words, he attempts to describe how one's actions and demeanor change with context - how one presents themselves in public.

In my particular case, there are extra layers because I am at once role-playing Geralt and GamerAnthro in public. This means that my presentation of "self" is complicated by the fact that I am also embodying multiple complex identities (GamerAnthro, Geralt, Krista-Lee) while simultaneously attempting to present a particular version of at least 2 of these identities. I say 2, meaning GamerAnthro and Krista-Lee, because I don't consciously try to present Geralt - I embody Geralt and roleplay him, however, given the context of Twitch, I would argue that this becomes a presentation of Krista-Lee-as-gamer rather than a presentation of Krista-Lee-as-Geralt (because I clearly needed more identities right?). In part, this is because my embodiment of Geralt is more a matter of theater of the mind and because I do not stay in character at all times (such as an actor on stage would for example). Rather I will slip in and out of character as demonstrated by my fluid use of pronouns.

Now, everyone has an objective for each social interaction - to be liked, to be heard, to learn, to win, etc -  and "regardless of the particular objective ...it will be in his interests to control the conduct of the others, especially their responsive treatment of him" (3). One way of controlling a situation is to project a definition of it that (hopefully) encourages those present to accept that definition and act accordingly, ie play along (12).

This is what I am consciously trying to do when I use the pronoun "we" meaning me and chat. Specifically, I am referring to those times that I come to a dialogue choice and I pause to ask the chat what "we" should do. In these moments I am attempting to project the situation of playing the game as something we (me and chat) are doing together. Thus insinuating that chat should participate in the making of choices within the game.

Unfortunately, I am not always successful in defining the situation or encouraging chat to act accordingly apparently because sometimes chat will remain silent as I talk through my thoughts on the decision before us. There are several possible reasons this happens. First, and easiest to address is the time delay. In streaming, there is necessarily a slight delay, and when I first began streaming I was quite impatient. I would ask chat what we should do, but then make the choice before anyone had the opportunity to respond. I have gotten better and this happens much less now.

This photo serves to break up the serious text.

The next problem is related to information control and backseat gaming. "A basic problem for many performances ... is that of information control" (141). Goffman is talking about information that could disrupt the performance, such as "dark secrets" or facts that are "incompatible with the image of self" one is attempting to present (141). In the case of cooperatively playing Witcher, information control has to do with metagaming and engagement. Some of my audience has played the game before and so they don't like to actively participate for fear of ruining the immersion and contingency of the game for me - as I have never played before. I know this is so because a couple of people have told me this is the case. Notwithstanding, both of them will relent and offer me suggestions if I become overly stuck on a decision and ask for that level of meta-gaming.

On the one hand, that these regular viewers are conscientious of backseat gaming and meta-gaming shows that they are aware of the type of atmosphere (situational definition) that I am attempting to create of a communal/cooperative play/social space and they are helping me create it. On the other hand, for new people to the community, this can backfire if they see no one responding to my solicitation for input and thus interpret the situation as one that is not interactional. (Considering streamers are separated from the audience by the architecture of the platform, it is not a given that streamers will interact with chat, though that has come to be a cultural norm for much of Twitch.) As Goffman explains, "we commonly find that the definition of the situation projected by a particular participant is an integral part of the projection that is fostered and sustained by the intimate cooperation of more than 1 participant" (77). In other words, the cooperation of even a couple of regulars can go a long way in helping me to create the channel that I desire, or I need "we."

Of course, all this would also be helped by a bigger audience, but all things in due time. Perhaps when I do have a larger chat pool I will revisit this and see how quantity may have affected quality. Or maybe it is me and I will revisit this to explore how practice (me gaining more experience in nurturing the community) makes perfect.