Identity in E-Lit

Design and Mechanics of "My Body"

The mechanics of Jackson’s work adds to its meaningfulness by having all of the stories connected to each other, just like all the body parts are. Deeper in the work the player will find hypertext links within the story of the body parts which take you to a different body part. This mechanic of the work is vital to the player’s experience because it tempts them to explore every piece of the woman’s body and get to know every piece of her identity. Upon further investigation and rummaging through hyperlinks, the player can find stories that they wouldn’t have found without clicking through all of the links. This is reminiscent of figuring out someone’s identity because only by further investigation and curiosity can one find the hidden aspects of a person’s identity that isn’t obvious on the surface.

The design of the game is also very important because it can give the players a different experience based off of which body parts they tend to choose. While those that quickly click on the woman’s private parts might expect something sensual, they’ll actually get the information they weren’t expecting such as the kind of books that have been inside of the author’s private parts. Others that actually want to know the author on a personal level can do so by clicking through all of the body parts and links within each one. Much like in real life, the way we look and know someone is by the aspects of their identity that we know, by only knowing a small part of their identity, we will have an image of them that is different than that of someone who knows much of their identity. Jackson uses such a mechanic and design of surfing through hyperlinks, not just because it is intriguing to do so, but because it resembles how a person’s identity can be revealed in real life.

 
Freddie Sanabria

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