The Video Game Experience as “True” Identification: A Theory of Enjoyable Alterations of Players’ Self-Perception

This article introduces an explication of video game players’ identification with a game character or role that is based on social–psychological models of self-perception. Contrasting with conventional (“dyadic”) notions of media user–character relationships (e.g., parasocial interaction or affective disposition theory), (“monadic”) video game identification is defined as a temporal shift of players’ self-perception through adoption of valued properties of the game character. Implications for media enjoyment, the measurement of identification, and media effects are discussed.