About Disputed Existences: Dys4ia’s Conflicted Status between Game and Autobiography

Felix Tenhaef

doi:10.21827/ejlw.14.42318

About Disputed Existences: Dys4ia’s Conflicted Status between Game and Autobiography

Authors

Felix Tenhaef Universität Innsbruck https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3032-7230

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21827/ejlw.14.42318

Keywords:

digital life narratives, automediality, computer games, autobiography

Abstract

In 2012, Anna Anthropy released her computer game Dys4ia about her experiences with hormone replacement therapy. Described explicitly by her as an autobiographical game, Dys4ia inevitably invites comparison with the genres of autobiography, computer game, and digital life narrative. However, it appears to be at odds with all these categories. Within the framework of automediality, introduced by Jörg Dünne and Christian Moser in 2008, this paper seeks to explore these discrepancies. First, it will analyse how Dys4ia relates to notions of autobiography and common types of game. Second, Dys4ia will be compared with weblogs, a prevalent form of digital life narratives. Third, by looking into the discourses surrounding the game, the paper aims to explain why Dys4ia was designed in this manner and to identify the discursive limits of this design. Thus, the article makes an important contribution to current research on computer games as media of life narration and self-expression.

Author Biography

Felix Tenhaef, Universität Innsbruck

Felix Tenhaef was a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Art History, University of Innsbruck, Austria, from 2020 to 2024. He is currently working on a doctoral thesis provisionally entitled “The Genre of Autobiographical Computer Games: Between Personal Self-Testimonies and Artistic Forms of Expression.” Previously, Tenhaef, who has a background in art history and musicology, worked as a project assistant at the German Music Information Centre, Bonn, Germany, and as a freelancer at the Margarethe Krupp Foundation, Essen, Germany, involved in the ordering, indexing, and classifying of historical construction plans.

Published

2025-07-04

Issue

Vol. 14 (2025): EJLW

Section

Life Narrative and the Digital

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