The argument made by Judith Butler, just previously discussed, is crucial to our understanding of this game of identity. She proceeds in her conclusion that “Indeed, there is no ‘one’ who takes on a gender norm. On the contrary, this citation of the gender norm is necessary in order to qualify as a ‘one’, to become viable as a ‘one’, where subject-formation is dependent on the prior operation of legitimating gender norms” (616). Here, allow the word “gender” to be replaced with “identity” for the present purpose, as Butler is speaking on the subject of gender as a constructed identity. There is, surely, no real or objective connection between identity norms and nature, but “…we feign unicity by retroactively creating meaning for these tears in mediated social reality, by repetitively attempting to symbolize what exceeds symbolization” (Matheson 12). It’s societal. It’s artificial. It’s practiced until it becomes systematic.
The Essence of Video Game Avatars
