Big Game Hunting - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 180

Figure 12.2 The Code of Interaction. (See color insert.)

reward pairs (the purple arrows) are signs in their own right. These general signs of
interaction are further linked by a green arrow and a blue arrow.
The green arrow represents cognition—the process of evaluating a reward and
identifying the next attractor to focus on. Of course cognition doesn't just happen
between recognizing a reward and identifying the next attractor to focus on. The
green arrow does, however, represent the part in the process where the social and
media codes come into play. The blue arrow represents the nonsemiotic act of issuing
commands to the console/PC via the signs of intervention. But even these, as we
observed in the last chapter, have a semiotic element to them for the player in the
sense that these will be considered nameable actions, by the player, which will align
with those in the game's activity profi le. And remember that on the plane of the
signifi ed we fi nd not only denotation but also the levels of connotation and myth
which should build up through the player's repeated cycles of interaction.
The ship's propeller not only reinforces the cyclic nature of interaction but also
seeks to signify the development of the experience of the game, the buildup of
meaning, over time (yellow arrow), and thus the diachronic development of game-
play and the associated aesthetic pleasures of narrative potential, transformation,