Communication with Video Games as a Process of Semiosis

Abstract

Communication as a process of interpreting signs has always existed in people’s life. In post-information society, the communication between a person and a technological system through the specific sign-attaching process becomes widespread. Moreover, it somehow replaces usual communication between people. One of the means of communication in the digital space are video games. They not only play an important role in communication processes, but also are a special case of signcreating and interpreting. The purpose of the article is to examine video games as a space of sign-based communication between a person and a game as a specific digital system. With the help of general scientific and hermeneutic methodology, the analysis of video games as a post-information society phenomenon which people communicate to has been conducted. The process of semiosis as attaching special meanings to signs has been traced in both manipulating in-game objects and characters and understanding rules of an in-game world.