a screen cap of the first page of the article. basic information is in the main post. abstract: This article argues for critical posthumanist approaches to human-machine communication (HMC) and positions video game non-player, non-playing, or non-playable characters (NPCs) as a productive connective topic to facilitate this. Despite their historical presence as mundane, popular artificial intelligence (AI) and rich implications on the political notion of the nonhuman, insights from NPC research, especially qualitative and critical, have been largely missing in HMC discourses. To close this gap, this article aims to investigate and provide a guiding mapping of NPC literature. First, it critically contextualizes existing approaches to NPCs across disciplines to examine why and how NPCs can aid critical posthumanist research on AI contexts. Second, building on this, it conducted a scoping review of 22 grounded qualitative, critical theoretical works on emergent narratives on NPCs. The review suggested a budding interest in the topic and many promising research potentials. Specific recommendations are made. Drawing on the results, I argue that NPCs can help us interrogate the inhuman(e) in other-than-human.
New article, right before #NCA25! "Non-player characters and the nonhuman: Insights and scoping review toward critical posthumanist human-machine communication." The Communication Review. doi.org/10.1080/1071....
I needed this review myself to (re)think&write about emergent AI cultures, so I did it!
