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Systems of Meaning
It should be self-evident that games contain representations. Think about the thousands of objects represented in a game such as Animal Crossing or Grand Theft Auto III. But games are not the only cultural forms that contain many internal representations. The text of a storybook is also composed of thousands and thousands of representations: the text doesn't just represent a single object, but is made up of a dense chain of signifiers (or signs), denoting complex networks of characters, objects, descriptions, and events. The words that make up the text of The Little Prince act as a representational system to depict the many characters and events of the story. Similarly, games are systems that give rise to representations of characters and events—representations at least as complex as those created through writing in a book. Games can represent: this is a simple idea. However, because games are complex dynamic systems, the exact way representations operate within a game to generate meaning is quite complex. Even the most basic set of game signs are always bound up in larger systems of meaning. For example, consider one of the simplest elements of Virtua Fighter 4 for the Playstation2: the health bar. In the two-player "versus" mode of VF4, two players select a character and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Both characters begin the game with 100 percent health, represented by a full green bar. As a character is struck by attacks, her health is reduced; when a character's health reaches zero, she has lost the match. Both health bars are visible to both players; each one communicates to a player the status of his or her own health, as well as the health of his or her opponent. This information can suggest actions for the player to take, such as switching from an offensive to a defensive strategy if the player's own health is very low. Thus the "health bar" is a complex sign, which represents several things at once:
The current level of health of a player's own character
A meter measuring who is winning the match (who has more health)
A display of how near the game is to finishing
A display of how soon one or both characters will die
The relative skill of both players
The effectiveness of a player's current playing strategy
This example illustrates that even a simple game stat can have multiple, interrelated meanings. The health bar is part of a complex network of signs, which is why appreciating the meaning of the health bar requires an understanding of the larger system. For example, your character's health is at 30 percent. Are you about to die? Possibly, if your opponent is at full health. But perhaps your opponent's health is down to 5 percent. In these two scenarios, you would assume very different play strategies, perhaps falling back to a defensive posture or conversely, pressing the attack for a quick kill. The meaning of any one sign can only be understood in relation to a larger set of signs, which together form the densely woven fabric of meaning in a game. We should point out that in Virtua Fighter 4 there are other ways to win the game besides reducing your opponent's health to zero. For example, in some of the arenas, you can win by knocking your opponent out of the ring. Every fight also has a pre-set time limit—when the limit is reached, the player with the most health wins, even if the health of one player's character hasn't been taken down to zero. These alternate victory conditions add even more meaning to the sign of the health bar. If your own health is very low, perhaps you should change your fighting style to try and push your opponent out of the ring. Or if you are ahead in health and the timer is almost up, you might want to stay away from your opponent, avoiding contact until the timed end of the match. The meaning of the health bar affects the actions players take, actions which themselves can affect the meaning of the health bar, again leading to new actions and outcomes. In this way, meaning in the game sets up complex representational loops, generating representations that affect and are affected by player interaction. For this example, we used the single stat of a health bar, but we could have looked at any aspect of the game. When all of the elements represented in VF4 are considered at once, from the stances and maneuvers of the characters to the distances and spaces between them, the total system of meaning becomes staggeringly complex.
