Haptic Technology, Digital Incarnation and “Post-Body” Intentions: Research on Tactile Experience in VR Gaming

LI Jinzheng, XU Zhiheng, HE Jiaxin, XU Xinyue

Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2025, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (9) : 156-176.

PDF(1523 KB)
PDF(1523 KB)
Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2025, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (9) : 156-176.
Research Articles

Haptic Technology, Digital Incarnation and “Post-Body” Intentions: Research on Tactile Experience in VR Gaming

Author information +
History +

Abstract

The organ of touch is the fundamental and integrative organ that underlies all senses system.The self-reflexivity and duality of touch not only led to the discovery of the “primordial body”that unifies subject and object, but its immediate, non-representational, and pre-reflective nature has also resulted in its neglect within epistemological philosophy. Yet in the body phenomenology, it has been recognized as a foundational existential organ.In this context, haptic technology is “ready-to-hand” quality, and the VR gaming it integrates are characterized as a techno-phenomenological practice. In the specific game process, haptics constitutes an initialized perceptual field by combining other senses with haptic technology, and the technological subject synthesized by the body and technology still exists in the tactile world in the form of a “post-body” after undergoing differentiation and integration, and the process of haptic media has always ensured the existential theory of the technological subject through its own invisibility. While the tactile world under the post-body intention takes bodily touch as a starting point, the game is driven by the intentional enrichment and scene construction of the body and technology. Further research reveals that VR gaming can be defined as a technologically mediated phenomenological gesture that adds a “technological substitute” to Heidegger’s “grounded existentialism,” and that the “man of play” moves toward a universal existential maneuver in the context of “deep gamification”. Theoretically, the phenomenological perspective of game research reconstructs the theoretical core of game subjectivity, interactivity, playfulness, and is expected to become a “third way” that transcends ludology and narratology.

Key words

Tactility/haptic / haptic technology / digital incarnation / post-body intention / VR gaming / tactile experience

Cite this article

Download Citations
LI Jinzheng , XU Zhiheng , HE Jiaxin , et al. Haptic Technology, Digital Incarnation and “Post-Body” Intentions: Research on Tactile Experience in VR Gaming[J]. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2025, 47(9): 156-176

References

[1]
贝尔纳·斯蒂格勒(1994/2012). 《技术与时间1:爱比米修斯的过失》(裴程译). 译林出版社.
[2]
卞冬磊(2024). 技术的越界与触觉的延伸:媒介时间中的抵抗. 《传媒观察》,(10),18-26.
[3]
高砚平(2018). 赫尔德论触觉:幽暗的美学. 《学术月刊》,(10),130-139.
[4]
郭小安, 赵海明(2022). 观看的无奈与正义:数据社会液态监视的弥散性与能动性. 《新闻与传播研究》,(10),34-46+126-127.
[5]
胡塞尔(1952/2013). 《现象学的构成研究》(李幼蒸译). 中国人民大学出版社.
[6]
凯瑟琳·海勒(1999/2017). 《我们何以成为后人类:文学、信息科学和控制论中的后身体》(刘宇清译). 北京大学出版社.
[7]
林成文(2021). 触觉媒介的具身美学——当代电影和媒介研究中的触觉理论探析. 《当代电影》,(12),91-96.
[8]
林成文(2023). 虚拟触摸:触觉的媒介化重构及其后人类意义. 《北京电影学院学报》,(11),4-13.
[9]
刘海龙, 束开荣(2019). 具身性与传播研究的身体观念——知识现象学与认知科学的视角. 《兰州大学学报(社会科学版)》,(2),80-89.
[10]
马丁·海德格尔(1927/2016). 《存在与时间》(陈嘉映,王庆节译). 商务印书馆.
[11]
马丁·海德格尔(1978/1996). 《海德格尔选集》(下卷)(孙兴周选编). 生活·读书·新知上海三联出版社.
[12]
莫里斯·梅洛-庞蒂(1942/2005). 《行为的结构》(杨大春,张尧均译). 商务印书馆.
[13]
莫里斯·梅洛-庞蒂(1945/2001). 《知觉现象学》(姜志辉译). 商务印书馆.
[14]
莫里斯·梅洛-庞蒂(1964/2008). 《可见与不可见的》(罗国祥译). 商务印书馆.
[15]
倪梁康(2016). 《胡塞尔现象学概念通释》. 商务印书馆.
[16]
隋南(主编)(2010). 《生理心理学》. 中国人民大学出版社.
[17]
孙玮(2018). 交流者的身体:传播与在场——意识主体、身体-主体、智能主体的演变. 《国际新闻界》, 40(12),83-103.
[18]
唐·伊德(1990/2012). 《技术与生活世界——从伊甸园到尘世》(韩连庆译). 北京大学出版社.
[19]
特里·伊格尔顿(1999/2001). 《审美意识形态》 (王杰,傅德根,麦永雄译). 广西师范大学出版社.
[20]
王继(2020). 双重立义、机械力与能力——论胡塞尔实践世界的触觉基础. 《现代哲学》,(1),105-112.
[21]
沃尔夫冈·伊瑟尔(1980/1991). 《阅读活动——审美反应理论》(金元浦,周宁译). 中国社会科学出版社.
[22]
席勒(1982/1984). 《美育书简》(徐恒醇译). 中国文联出版公司.
[23]
夏可君(2013). 《身体:从感发性、生命技术到元素性》. 北京大学出版社.
[24]
亚里士多德(1984/1992). 《亚里士多德全集(第三卷)》(苗力田编译). 中国人民大学出版社.
[25]
游资网(2020年3月25日). 划时代的《半衰期》VR大作,向我们证明了这种模式的可行性. https://www.gameres.com/864393.html
[26]
喻国明, 耿晓梦(2019). 从游戏玩家的类型研究到未来线上用户的特质模型——兼论游戏范式对于未来传播研究的价值. 《当代传播》,(3),26-30.
[27]
喻国明, 苏健威, 李钒(2025). 深度游戏化:游戏媒介驱动社会实践的逻辑重构与价值升维. 《新疆师范大学学报(哲学社会科学版)》,(6),1-8.
[28]
约翰·赫伊津哈(1944/2017). 《游戏的人:文化中游戏成分的研究》(何道宽译), 花城出版社.
[29]
张尧均(2023). 《隐喻的身体:梅洛-庞蒂身体现象学研究(修订版本)》. 崇文书局.
[30]
张再林(2017). 论触觉. 《学术研究》,(3),10-19+36.
[31]
周振权(2023). 胡塞尔与梅洛-庞蒂:论触感的双重性——基于莫兰、卡曼与阿莫克研究的反思. 《学术研究》,(10),35-41.
[32]
钟舒(2019). 技术、媒介与后人类:新媒体艺术中后身体问题理论溯源. 《艺术评论》,(5),133-141.
[33]
周逵(2018). 沉浸式传播中的身体经验——以虚拟现实游戏的玩家研究为例. 《国际新闻界》,(5),6-26.
[34]
朱立元(主编)(1997). 《当代西方文艺理论》. 华东师范大学出版社.
[35]
Arif, Urooj (2024, March 13). Haptic vs. tactile — what's the difference?. https://www.askdifference.com/haptic-vs-tactile
[36]
Arsenault, D. (2023). Narratology. In Wolf, M. J., & Perron, B. (Eds.), The Routledge companion to video game studies (pp. 588-596). Routledge.
[37]
Dourish, Paul (2001). Where the action is: The foundations of embodied interaction. MIT Press.
[38]
Elo, M. (2012). Formatting the senses of touch. http://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Elo_Trans22.pdf
[39]
Farrow, R., & Iacovides, I. (2014). Gaming and the limits of digital embodiment. Philosophy & Technology, 27(2), 221-233.
[40]
Frasca, G. (2003). Simulation versus narrative: Introduction to ludology. In Wolf, M. J., & Perron, B. (Eds.), The video game theory reader (pp. 221-235). Routledge.
[41]
Ihde, Don. (1979). Tecnology and Praxis. D. Reidel Pub. Co.
[42]
Keogh, B. (2018). A play of bodies: How we perceive videogames. MIT Press.
[43]
Leino, O.T. (2009). Understanding Games as Played: Sketch for a first-person perspective for computer game analysis. In Proceedings of the Philosophy of Computer Games 2009, Oslo, Norway.
[44]
Lukić, V. (2022). Phenomenology and video games: Embodied experience. Scopus: Časopis za filozofiju studenata Fakulteta hrvatskih studija, 14(27), 9-20.
[45]
Ter Minassian, H., de Carvajal, I. C., Boutet, M., & Triclot, M. (2014). ‘Where is life?’: Commitment and micro-interactions in videogames. Engaging with videogames: play, theory and practice, 53-63.
[46]
Toft, I. (2021). Brittle Configurations: Practical Explorations on Games and Vibrotactile Media. [unpublisld doctoral dissertation]. Concordia University.
[47]
Mol, A. M., Santos Silva, R., Augusto Rocha, Á., & Ishitani, L. (2017). Ethnography and Phenomenology applied to game research: a systematic literature review. Revista de Sistemas e Computação-RSC, 7(2).
[48]
Mueller, F. F., Byrne, R., Andres, J., & Patibanda, R. (2018, April 21-26). Experiencing the body as play [Paper presentation]. Proceedings of the 2018 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems, New York, NY, United States.
[49]
Orozco, M., Silva, J., El Saddik, A., & Petriu, E. (2012). The role of haptics in games. In El Saddik (Ed.), Haptics Rendering and Applications (pp.217-234). IntechOpen.
[50]
Paterson, M. (2007). The senses of touch: Haptics, affects and technologies. Berg.
[51]
Parisi, D. (2008). Fingerbombing, or ‘touching is good’: The cultural construction of technologized touch. The Senses & Society, 3(3): 307-328.
[52]
Parisi, D., & Archer, J. E. (2017). Making touch analog: the prospects and perils of a haptic media studies. New Media & Society, 19(10), 1523-1540.
In this article, we argue for the urgency of establishing a coherent tradition of haptic media studies, suggesting that the fields of visual culture studies and sound studies provide analogs, however imperfect, for modeling a new touch-oriented approach to media. This call to make touch like the senses of seeing and hearing echoes previous movements in touch’s discursive and institutional history, as investigators in prior generations similarly aspired to transform tactility through the development of new institutionally grounded research programs. Furthermore, we outline one possible genealogy of haptic media that attends specifically to the power relations expressed through the technoscientific harnessing of touch by haptics. We close with a programmatic set of suggestions for operationalizing haptic media studies.
[53]
Polanyi, Michael (1959/2013). The Study of Man. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
[54]
Saddik, A., Orozco, M., Eid, M., & Cha, J. (2011). Haptics technologies: Bringing touch to multimedia. Springer Science & Business Media.
[55]
Shinkle, Eugenie (2005). Corporealis Ergo Sum: Affective Response in Digital Games. In Garrelts, N. (Ed.), Digital Gameplay: Essays on the Nexus of Game and Gamer (pp. 21-35). McFarland & Co.
[56]
Ryan, Marie-Laure (2003). Narrative as virtual reality: Immersion and interactivity in literature and elec-tronic media. Johns Hopkins Univ Press.

Footnotes

1. incarnation与avatar的区别在于,前者本意为“使肉身化”,也常被理解为“前身”,或基督教中的“道成肉身”,强调虚拟的或无实体的意识或神与现实的交变,而后者更接近于中文的“神仙下凡”,也常用来指称网络媒体中具象化的自我形象。就其区别来看,触觉游戏中的虚拟身体与肉身身体之间的关系更适合用incarnation来表述。二者的区别详见Noel Sheth (2002). Hindu avatar and christian incarnation: A comparison. Philosophy East and West, 52(1), 98-125.

Funding

Major Project of the National Social Science Fund of China “Research on the Laws of Cultural Production and Dissemination in the Internet Era”(24&WZD21)
PDF(1523 KB)

Accesses

Citation

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/