Alessandro Catania

Narratives are the first means for categorizing experience, whether the experience is real, represented or simulated. As in many textual forms, even in computer games the narrative level is the textual level players are most aware of. Experiencing a computer game is not only a matter of playing and interacting but means being part of a narrative universe. Computer game theory cannot fail to acknowledge the importance of game narratives. In the following pages I will argue that the specificity of computer games is not being merely a simulation. Rather, the issue computer game theories – especially semiotic theories – have to focus on is the relationship between video game narratives and the game’s unique characteristics such as interactivity, peculiar interfaces, simulated virtual environments. Through the analysis of variable degrees of interactivity I will point out that the main point of immersiveness is to help the player experience the virtual world the game creates. Again, this will result in a strong emphasis on the narrative components of the computer game that will therefore be considered as crucial elements of the gaming experience of many new and old computer games.The study of these issues and of computer games as complex semiotic artifacts will lead to a better understanding of the role of semiotics in the investigation of different aspects of the gaming experience.