From the Ontology of Video Games to the Epistemology of Digital Movements. Towards a Semiotics of Virtual Practices

Abstract

In this paper, we intend to construct an original integration between the ontology and hermeneutics of video games proposed in the field of game studies and the post-structuralist approach of contemporary semiotics. The aim is to propose a new epistemology of video game and virtual reality experiences grounded in the concept of movement. These media will be reconceptualized as image-movements: expressive systems that rely on the interrelation of two sets of qualities, visual qualities and kinetic qualities. First, we will perform an integration between the concept of ergodic literature developed in the field of game studies and recent developments as regards a semiotics of practices. Starting from this general convergence, we will rely on the meta-ontology of video games proposed by Espen Aarseth and Paweł Grabarczyk to build a theory capable of integrating as many dimensions as possible around a kinetic explanatory core.