Semiotics is the study of signs and texts within society. Founded by Ferdinand De Saussere in 1916, it introduces the idea of finding our own meanings from these signs and constructing codes that build layers of meaning for the audience to decipher. According to semiotics, visual and audio languages are constructed within texts (which can be virtually anything) which cultures can then create meanings to.
As noted by C.S. Pierce's Categories of Signs[1], semiotics are built through:
- Symbols - meanings created by a consensus (e.g. The Red Cross)
- Icons - when the visual/audio/language resembles what they signify (e.g. a picture of a dog signifies a dog, a shambling model of a zombie signifies a zombie)
- Index - when the visual/audio/language signifies an action in context.
And through these, codes are created. These are constructed with different elements where signs are put together to create meaning for the audience to become affected by. For my project I want to only look into the audio and visual elements of survival horror games, so I will only be looking into using certain semiotic codes to analyse the genre. Common Codes such as commodity, aesthetic and technical cover the ideas of clothing, apparel and character design (commodity), the colour scheme and general look and feel of the game (aesthetic) and the way the game is editted and constructed narratively (technical). Technical Codes could also be used to look into the ideas of game genre and how the survival horror genre as a whole has created meanings intertextually about which signs make up the game experience.
To add more to this, the idea of the "repertoire" introduced in Understanding Video Games helps explain how signs and codes in texts allow the player to understand how to approach a game and how to feel, an important point when dealing with survival horrors. The repertoire in this context means the knowledge we already have about certain texts and the feelings we associate with their elements. "Knowledge of the survival horror genre of video games. This includes basic premises such as: kill all monsters; pick up all objects because they might help solve puzzles; there is a boss, or monster, that is especially difficult to kill at the end of each level or area" [2].
In relation to survival horrors, the repertoire we (possibly) have about them and the horror movie conventions they use are brought to the forefront of out minds when it is activated by the audio and visual signs in the game world. As noted, "The repertoire is activated by "clues" in the game - everything from the creepy sounds when you go up the stairs to the dark rain on the fresh tombs - which indicates that we are immersed in a survival horror game" [2]. When a certain sign appears which we associate with tension and fear etc. (e.g. a crash in another room or complete silence when moving through an area) our repertoire comes into life and we start the analyse the situation. Should I be afraid? What could have made that noise? The zombie is moving slowly maybe I can outrun him! It is what we decipher from the semiotic codes from our repertoire (or lack of one) which can heighten tension, give us a battle plan or make us run in fear, ultimately covertly immmersing the player in the process.
[2] Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Jonas Heide Smith, Susana Pajares Tosca, 2008, Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction, Taylor & Francis
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