From whole to part and back again: hermeneutics of gender in computer games

Modern computer games are special cultural phenomena that reflect many processes occurring in the real world. Among the phenomena presented within the space of a computer game, we can find gender and gender features of game characters. These are represented through several semiotic levels of fixation: visual, auditory, and narrative. Gender images are closely associated with the narrative and semantic space of the game. The phenomenology of gender images and their manifestation in the player's mind correlate to the hermeneutic logic of movement from part to whole and back again, so does understanding of the gender image to the complexity and configurations of the narrative. Within this logic, the author distinguishes four types of games, depending on the complexity/simplicity of the narrative and gender images. The conclusion is made about the diversity of gender issues in computer games, its correlation with the cultural situation and inevitable entry into the space of pragmatics, which is associated with the perception of the game by the recipient.