Me and My Avatar: Acquiring Actorial Identity

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors explore the concept of actorial identity through analysing the construction of legal persons as actors, centred on the argument that there is an ontological separation between living men and women and their legal representations. The authors propose an analytical frame based in part on the games studies literature, wherein actorial identities known as ‘Avatars’ are created by performative declarations that articulate Avatars with Players (living persons). The Avatars act within a bounded ‘Matrix’ while being controlled by Players who are outside the Matrix. In applying the frame to the legal Matrix, the authors distinguish between living persons, natural persons and artificial persons, and introduce the concepts of first-order and second-order Avatars. The authors then employ the analytical frame to model the use of legal Avatars by Apple Inc. and illustrate how cryptocurrency technology enables the creation of Avatars that can transact outside legal systems. The frame also helps explain how autonomous systems could acquire actorial identity and then functionally participate in the legal Matrix.

Citation

O’Tierney, A.J., Kavanagh, D. and Scally, K. (2019), "Me and My Avatar: Acquiring Actorial Identity", Hwang, H., Colyvas, J.A. and Drori, G.S. (Ed.) Agents, Actors, Actorhood: Institutional Perspectives on the Nature of Agency, Action, and Authority (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 58), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 65-86. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000058006