Virtual Bike Racing: Contrastive Case Studies of Embodiment on Zwift

Ryan M. Rish; Erin M. Rish

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Chapter 5 Virtual Bike Racing

Contrastive Case Studies of Embodiment on Zwift

In: The Literacies of the Esports Ecosystem

Authors:

Ryan M. Rish

Ryan M. Rish
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Erin M. Rish

Erin M. Rish
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 144–163

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004689770_008

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Abstract

This chapter presents contrastive case studies of two virtual bicycle racers who train and race on the Zwift gaming platform. Using longitudinal autoethnography as a method, our cases demonstrate how Zwift can be used for virtual competition for its own sake and as an approximation for preparing for outdoor competition. Each case demonstrates how we attend to different features of the game for different purposes and outcomes, which constitutes different forms of esports game play, and also how we engage in different forms of embodiment when training and racing on Zwift. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how our Zwift gaming requires specific embodied actions that are not always commensurate with the embodied actions of outdoor riding and racing. We argue that Zwift and other virtual cycling and running gaming platforms constitute a new, hybrid form of esports that involve physical demands comparable to, but not an exact match of, the outdoor versions of the sports on which they are based. This hybridity allows for virtual and outdoor recreation and competition to overlap in ways not present in other esports.

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The Literacies of the Esports Ecosystem

Series: Gaming Ecologies and Pedagogies Series, Volume: 5

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004689770

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 12 Dec 2023

Subjects
- Education
  - Youth
  - Educational Technology

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Chapter 5 Virtual Bike Racing

Contrastive Case Studies of Embodiment on Zwift

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The Literacies of the Esports Ecosystem

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