{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T22:27:38Z","timestamp":1785364058009,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"7-8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,22]],"date-time":"2016-05-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1463875200000},"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":["Games and Culture"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article illustrates that the Narcissus myth can and has been interpreted as fundamentally about media. Surveying previous interpretations from Mulvey and McLuhan reveals that these rely upon assumptions based in a literate (Mulvey) and electronic (McLuhan) media environment. These interpretations offer insights into the desires and dangers of media, but they do not capture the unique desires of gaming, which are more about the play between self and other than love of self or other. Thus I offer an updated version for digital gaming. This interpretation portrays Narcissus as becoming entranced by the play between self and image, immediacy and hypermediacy, or control and conditions, leading to a better understanding of digital gaming and virtual space as operating via an economy between these pairs rather than an opposition. This economy produces unique desires not encapsulated by previous interpretations of Narcissus, which are frequently applied to gaming.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1555412015577734","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,3,20]],"date-time":"2015-03-20T10:27:13Z","timestamp":1426847233000},"page":"647-666","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Updating Narcissus, the Ur-myth of Media, for Digital Gaming"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Eric S.","family":"Jenkins","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Simulacra and simulation","author":"Baudrillard J.","year":"1994"},{"key":"bibr2-1555412015577734","first-page":"286","volume-title":"Narrative, apparatus, ideology: A film theory reader","author":"Baudry J. -L.","year":"1986"},{"key":"bibr3-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames","author":"Bogost I.","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr4-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Remediation: Understanding new media","author":"Bolter J. D.","year":"2000","edition":"1"},{"key":"bibr5-1555412015577734","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203358818"},{"key":"bibr6-1555412015577734","volume-title":"McLuhan in space: A cultural geography","author":"Cavell R.","year":"2003"},{"key":"bibr7-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Reset: Changing the way we look at video games BK currents","author":"DeMaria R.","year":"2007"},{"key":"bibr8-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Games cultures: Computer games as new media","author":"Dovey J.","year":"2006"},{"key":"bibr9-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Film form: Essays in film theory","author":"Eisenstein S.","year":"1969"},{"key":"bibr10-1555412015577734","volume-title":"General psychological theory: Papers on metapsychology","author":"Freud S.","year":"1963"},{"key":"bibr11-1555412015577734","volume-title":"What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy","author":"Gee J. P.","year":"2007","edition":"2"},{"key":"bibr12-1555412015577734","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/15295030802468057"},{"key":"bibr13-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional Worlds","author":"Juul J.","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr14-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Screenplay: Cinema\/videogames\/interfaces","author":"King G.","year":"2002"},{"key":"bibr15-1555412015577734","first-page":"339","volume":"88","author":"McLuhan M.","year":"1959","journal-title":"Daedalus"},{"key":"bibr16-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Understanding media: The extensions of man","author":"McLuhan M.","year":"1964"},{"key":"bibr25-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Counterblast","author":"McLuhan M.","year":"1969"},{"key":"bibr17-1555412015577734","volume-title":"From clich\u00e9 to archetype","author":"McLuhan M.","year":"1970"},{"key":"bibr18-1555412015577734","first-page":"198","volume-title":"Narrative, apparatus, ideology: A film theory Reader","author":"Mulvey L.","year":"1986"},{"key":"bibr19-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Inventing the medium: Principles of interaction design as a cultural practice","author":"Murray J. H.","year":"2012"},{"key":"bibr20-1555412015577734","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203328064"},{"key":"bibr21-1555412015577734","unstructured":"Ovid. (1994). The Story of Narcissus Metamorphoses, Book the Third. (Garth S. S., Dryden J. Trans.). Stevenson Daniel C., Web Atomics. Retrieved from http:\/\/classics.mit.edu\/Ovid\/metam.3.third.html"},{"key":"bibr22-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Trigger happy: Videogames and the entertainment revolution","author":"Poole S.","year":"2004"},{"key":"bibr23-1555412015577734","first-page":"71","volume-title":"Television and common knowledge","author":"Silverstone R.","year":"1999"},{"key":"bibr24-1555412015577734","volume-title":"Echoes and reflections: On media ecology as a field of study","author":"Strate L.","year":"2006"}],"container-title":["Games and Culture"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1555412015577734","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/1555412015577734","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1555412015577734","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T06:32:55Z","timestamp":1777444375000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1555412015577734"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,22]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7-8","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,11]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/1555412015577734"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1555412015577734","relation":{},"ISSN":["1555-4120","1555-4139"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1555-4120","type":"print"},{"value":"1555-4139","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,22]]}}}