2019
Albarrán-Torres, César; Apperley, Thomas H.
Poker Avatars: Affective Investment and Everyday Gambling Platforms Journal Article
In: Media International Australia, vol. 172, iss. 1, pp. 103-113, 2019, ISSN: 1329-878X.
Abstract | Links | Tags: App, Avatars, Gambling, Online casino, Platform
@article{Albarrán-Torres2019,
title = {Poker Avatars: Affective Investment and Everyday Gambling Platforms},
author = {César Albarrán-Torres and Thomas H. Apperley},
url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1329878X18805088?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.1},
doi = {10.1177/1329878X18805088},
issn = {1329-878X},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-08-01},
urldate = {2019-08-01},
journal = {Media International Australia},
volume = {172},
issue = {1},
pages = {103-113},
abstract = {This article examines the use of player-controlled avatars on digital gambling platforms and apps. Through a discussion of the influential, but now defunct, online gambling platform PKR ‘The Second Life of gambling’ the article illustrates how the avatar has a key role in the routinization of online gambling and cultivating affective investment from gamblers. The process of creating, maintaining and updating avatars promotes spending winnings in-house as the house now provides digital items that allow players to personalize their avatars. For gamblers, the affective investment in avatars adds a crucial qualitative and social dimension to what is otherwise a game of numbers and odds. The customizable avatar introduces a qualitative uncertainty by creating the possibility for indirect communication through avatar appearance, accessories and gestures, which reconnects online poker to face-to-face gambling through traditions such as bluffing. Affective investment in the avatar thus creates a feeling of co-presence between gamblers while gamblers and gambling platforms.},
keywords = {App, Avatars, Gambling, Online casino, Platform},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article examines the use of player-controlled avatars on digital gambling platforms and apps. Through a discussion of the influential, but now defunct, online gambling platform PKR ‘The Second Life of gambling’ the article illustrates how the avatar has a key role in the routinization of online gambling and cultivating affective investment from gamblers. The process of creating, maintaining and updating avatars promotes spending winnings in-house as the house now provides digital items that allow players to personalize their avatars. For gamblers, the affective investment in avatars adds a crucial qualitative and social dimension to what is otherwise a game of numbers and odds. The customizable avatar introduces a qualitative uncertainty by creating the possibility for indirect communication through avatar appearance, accessories and gestures, which reconnects online poker to face-to-face gambling through traditions such as bluffing. Affective investment in the avatar thus creates a feeling of co-presence between gamblers while gamblers and gambling platforms.