Decoding Computer Games: Studying “Special Operation 85”

Jalalzadeh, Bahareh; Dowran, Behzad

doi:10.7508/ijcr.2009.07.004

Decoding Computer Games: Studying “Special Operation 85”

Authors

Bahareh Jalalzadeh ¹

Behzad Dowran ²

¹ PhD Candidate of Cultural Studies, University of Edinburgh

² Assistant Professor of Iranian Information and Documentation Center

10.7508/ijcr.2009.07.004

Abstract

As other media, computer games convey messages which have tow features: explicit and implicit. Semiologically studying computer games and comparing them with narrative structures, the present study attempts to discover the messages they convey. Therefore we have studied and decoded “Special operation 85” as a semiological text. Results show that the game’s features, as naming, interests and motivations of the engaged people, and the events narrated, all lead the producers to their goals of introducing and publicizing Iranian-Islamic cultural values. Although this feature makes “Special Opreation 85” a unique game, it fails in its attempt to produce a mythical personage in Iranian-Islamic cultural context.

Keywords

computer games

Myth

semiology

Special Operation 85

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