Hologrammer i grenseland: Ikke‑menneskelige aktørers tilstedeværelse og handlingsrom i spill

Abstract

Holograms are common background features conveying a science fiction mood. Digital games allow us to experience worlds where holograms are positioned as actors with functions beyond being atmospheric objects. This article tracks a broad cultural understanding of the hologram and identifies holographic representations in 24 digital games. This is followed by a close reading of holograms in the video game Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games, 2017). These holograms provide access to forgotten knowledge and place players and player characters in actively observing positions while the past is replayed in navigable cutscenes. I argue that the holograms’ aesthetic, narrative, and mechanic functions challenge binary conceptualizations of presence and agency. This happens diegetically in the virtual environment but is also mirrored between player and game. Digital game holograms mediate thematically and formally between human and nonhuman actors, which helps us see how machines and humans are connected through agency in complex posthuman assemblages.