Ludological Communication of Social Reality

Abstract

Ludological Communication of Social Reality is about researching video games from a communicational perspective. Its purpose lies not only in researching, how video games can communicate about global reality, as it takes a much bigger role in the field of game studies and communications. The main argument of this thesis is that video games can communicate outside their intended purpose, and that they could be used effectively for such communication by studying structural elements and levels of the video game. With combination of theories from game studies, linguistics, philosophy, psychology and mathematics, a conceptual model of video game communication has been built, based on mass communication media. The results have shown that communicational elements can be found on all levels of story, player activities and design. Also that developed and intended purposes of the game are directly connected to the communication of the game, but not necessarily with each other.