DIGITAL BODILITY IN THE POPULAR CULTURE CONTEXT
Authors:   Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Theory and History Department (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation), Chukurov Andrey Yu. 
Published: December 2020

The article analyzes the phenomenon of digital bodility in the context of popular culture. In par-ticular, in the aspect of digital body existence in the space of MMORPG. The relevance is due to the apparent inadequacy of the traditional morphology of bodility, which implies the existence of a physi-cal and social body, as well as a transformation of communication strategies, including language prac-tices, which are strongly influenced by the gaming industry. However, if we are talking about the ap-pearance of a new type of bodility that fundamentally changes the whole morphology of the phenomenon, then, automatically, we raise another problem implicit in this phenomenon: these are the mechanisms of self-identification. The purpose of the work is to analyze the phenomenon of the MMORPG, the features of social communication and the specifics of self-identification in the virtual space. Modern foreign studies related to the digital body and the problems of interaction in the virtual world are, as a rule, of an applied nature, and they focus specifically on communication, rather than bodility. So, N. Dachenow, E. Nickell and R.J.Mour were very productively engaged in the study of communication strategies in the MMORPG Star Wars universe. A similar problem was solved by M. Griffits, M. Davis and D. Chapell, who were among the first to point out that it was the possibility of communication in the MMORPG that was the most attractive for users. V. Chen and G. Dach went further and turned to the analysis of the influence on the user of the immersion process in virtual reali-ty, so they came close to the problem of the digital body itself functioning. We point out the need to consider the problem of the digital body functioning in the context of increasing activity of minority cultures. Today, it can be unequivocally asserted that the importance of minority subcultural movements will increase. We are already witnessing a process in which subcul-tural movements are not simply massively entering the forefront of cultural life, but are increasingly asserting their rights to determine the cultural mainstream. The Information Society provided new opportunities and opened new prospects for the development of a very different minority communities. In our research, we define digital bodility as a highly aestheticized artificially and consciously created for the purpose of its further translation into the virtual world, formally divorced from physical sensations and the physical body, but actively interacting with it. Digital bodility determines the psy-chophysiological state of the creator, while bringing him/her closer to immortality, being able, in con-trast to the social body, to survive the death of the physical body. The article provides an analysis of the MMORPG phenomenon and the features of social communication in the space of multiplayer online games. The self-identification of modern man, and sometimes the whole process of socializa-tion, takes place precisely in the virtual space, so it is extremely important to identify the features of this process. Sometimes it seems that digital bodility gives the person many new opportunities. In particular, the possibility of existence in a parallel virtual reality with complete freedom of self-representation and self-identification. However, this is only the illusion of freedom, because both in social networks and in MMORPG the user only chooses an image/model/strategy of behavior from the ones offered to him, he collects his identity from the set of cultural patterns embedded in this program. We found that communication in these games is denser and multidimensional: the user simultaneously (in the literal sense of the word) refers to verbal communication, written communication – chats and sending letters using an alternative language system – and, most importantly, a fundamentally new and an unexplored form of communication, which can be described as “interpersonal visual.” We emphasize once again: if visual communication is actively studied as such, then communication of digital bodies remains outside the field of scientific reflection, and meanwhile, communication of this kind becomes one of the main ones. In other words, the image created in the game / social network determines the quality and success of the interaction of real users. We come to the conclusion that the main achievement of the MMORPG is not in the freedom of self-identification provision, but in the new communication strategies formation and their potential influence on the communication sphere as a whole because of the growing popularity of MMORPG.