УДК 7.08

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF TOPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF VIDEO GAMES: COMPARISON OF GAMES FOR ATARI 2600 AND NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM VASE STUDY

Tikhon K. Ermakov

Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

Abstract. Studies of contemporary culture, especially those related to digital culture, require the active use of interdisciplinary approaches, which is determined by the complex nature of the objects of study themselves. One such object is video games, the research of which requires the use of an increasing number of methods from various disciplines, including both various humanitarian methods and methods of technical sciences. Among the humanitarian approaches, the media-archaeological approach stands out, which is an original research project, the task of which is a critical relationship to the linear history of media. In this paper, we propose a theoretical and methodological framework for the description of a video game that integrates the latest developments in the field of theoretical models of the device of a game, and propose a model for the transition from this descriptive model to the analysis of the topos of a video game, thus inscribing a video game into the spectrum of objects of media-archaeological research. Preliminary results of applied research using a certain methodological framework show possible ways of development and further formalization of the proposed model. Namely, we can conclude that video game topoi in a certain way combine the properties of a video game that belong to its different ontological levels. In addition, it is important to emphasize that when comparing two video games, we inevitably find both components of a topos that ensure their belonging to a continuous series of invariants, and features that define a gap that refers objects to different topos. One of the conclusions of the article is a scheme for further research aimed at clarifying the formal characteristics of the topos, which will reveal new patterns that determine the logic of the historical development of video games.

Keywords: Video game, topos, media archeology, Platform Studies.

For citation: Ермаков, Т. К. Теоретико-методологические основания топологического анализа видеоигр:опыт сравнения игр для консолей Atari 2600 и Nintendo Entertainment System / Т. К. Ермаков // Северные Архивы и Экспедиции. – 2023. – Т. 7, № 2. – С. 116-125. – EDN KJSRWD.

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