{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T22:08:06Z","timestamp":1773871686052,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,16]],"date-time":"2020-03-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1584316800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> Whether we are talking about Alexa, chat bots or a videogame character, technological artefacts are increasingly being developed to mimic different aspects of being human. However, research on people\u2019s experience with such technologies and the cultural imaginations of what makes them human remains underdeveloped. Guided by a reexamination of the sociocultural concept of the Other, this article empirically studies how and why players humanise non-playable videogame characters. The analysis is based on 21, online and offline, semi-structured interviews with players of two single player, role-playing videogames \u2013 The Witcher and Dragon Age \u2013 and other players\u2019 anonymous posts on various websites. The analysis illustrates the different ways in which players humanise non-playable videogame characters (NPCs) and the ways these impede on their offline relationships. Finally, the analysis shows that the meaningful interactions with videogame characters affect players\u2019 human relationships and, thus, blur the boundaries between humans and nonhumans, and reality and virtuality. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444820912388","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,16]],"date-time":"2020-03-16T13:32:23Z","timestamp":1584365543000},"page":"1236-1256","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Post-human encounters: Humanising the technological Other in videogames"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5347-5104","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Iulia","family":"Coanda","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"KU Leuven, Belgium"}]},{"given":"Stef","family":"Aupers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"KU Leuven, Belgium"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1461444820912388","unstructured":"Abrams M (2017) AI learns to forget. 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