The White Room as a Narrative-Psychological Concept in a VideoGame

Lekhnitskaya Polina Alexandrovna ORCID: 0000-0002-3689-3213 Student, Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication, Kazan (Volga region) Federal University 420008, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Kremlevskaya str., 18 lekhnitskaya.polina@gmail.com

introduction

    For a long time there have been debates in science about the approach to the analysis of video games, in which the video game stood out as a system of rules (ludology) and as some form of narrative (narratology) ^[21].  In ludology, it is accepted that the gameplay itself is important, its fascination; the game here means a system of rules by which you need to act. The main characteristic of the game, according to ludologists, is its very playfulness: video games are played first, and then only think ^[21]. According to Espen Aarset, narratology, on the contrary, can be explained through narrativism as "the opinion that everything is a story and that narration is our primary, and maybe even the only mode of understanding, our cognitive perspective of the world" ^[22]. Games here are always similar to storytelling: for example, Frasca notes the intersection of many elements of games and stories: characters, action sequences, endings, settings ^{[21, 23]}. However, by the end of the past decade, researchers have come to the general conclusion that video games are a complex object that cannot be described by means of a single discipline. This is a specially functioning text, interactive cinema, digital media, and a new art form ^[24]. Jan Bogost insists that video games are always something more, it is impossible to focus on one approach as well as try to count all possible approaches ^[21]. This situation causes a problem – how to find this "golden mean", which will not be based on one approach and at the same time will not try to cover too wide a range of different approaches? Perhaps it is most optimal to shift the focus to a certain aspect of the game and to obtain objectivity, try to consider it from several sides.

On this basis, we are attempting to create our own narrative-psychological concept of the "White Room", which is based on the concepts and approaches of various scientific disciplines and assumes some semblance of universality in terms of applicability to game contexts. When analyzing the works of Aarset and Fraske, an ontological hierarchy can be traced: a game is a system of rules on which a narrative, a character and other elements are superimposed ^[21]. On this basis, Jan Bogost suggested calling this phenomenon the "second move" in the ontology of video games: "the assumption that games exist on many levels, but some of them are more real than others <...> some of these levels are constructs of the mind, while others have a material basis" ^[21]. Following this idea of Jan Bogost, the White Room is a construct of the mind, which, being an add–on to the game rules, allows you to control the gaming experience by supplementing the game scenario with the necessary semantic load.It is important that this definition does not imply a template and serious universality, since video games are semantic content, which in addition is perceived by each individual player individually. But the presence of basic ideas in this concept and its applicability to various contexts makes it possible to use the White Room for a wide range of tasks. Speaking about the individual perception of the gameplay, it is convenient to make a transition to the terms of psychology, since the gaming experience is primarily formed in the player's mind and, depending on the individual interpretation of the course of the game, manifests itself in gaming behavior.

    In a video game, it is important that the player is completely immersed in it, without trying to refute the narrative line. This can be achieved with the competent creation of narrative design, where the problem of the incoherence of some game components often arises: narrative designers lack a kind of "bridge" for a logical narrative, a bunch of game scenes. Due to the novelty of the "Game Studies" direction, universal storytelling tools and a clear narrative system have not yet been developed, therefore, as part of the upcoming research, an attempt was made to create a narrative concept – a White Room applicable to various game contexts for the coherence of game events. The objectives of the study were:

    1) Consideration of the experience of transferring ideas in related art forms, transferring ideas to the plane of video games;

    2) Highlighting the basic concepts that define the basis of the White Room, description of the concept;

    3) Determination of the compositional characteristics of the White Room.

    The research methodology is an induction and analysis of theoretical material, video games (using the example of the game "Antichamber"), films, short videos from the YouTube platform (https://www.youtube.com /), literary works (on the example of V. Nabokov's story "Pilgram"), in which similar ideas can be traced to the White Room. The choice of material is conditioned by the need for a comprehensive study of the already accumulated narrative means: at the beginning we will consider how this aspect is presented in related art forms. Based on the material considered, we will highlight the basic concepts that will allow us to most fully determine a person's perception of a certain concept, so that it will be possible to find their analogues in a video game and understand how these tools can be used in the narrative design of a video game. Moreover, since it is incorrect to consider a video game through one discipline due to the versatility of the object of cognition, we will try to address the most important, in our opinion, concepts and theoretical provisions of related disciplines. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the creation of a new narrative-psychological concept based on the idea of Jan Bogost that video games are a multifaceted object. This concept will allow the narrative designer to appeal with a ready-made solution and adjust it to a specific video game scenario.

    IDENTIFICATION OF BASIC CONCEPTS FOR A CONCEPT BASED ON THE EXPERIENCE OF RELATED ART FORMS

    In order to systematically approach the creation of a narrative-psychological concept, it is important to study the means of presenting history in related art forms, one of which is cinema. This kind of art, as well as video games, affects a person through the "screen", transmitting ideas not directly, but through certain means. So, to support the viewer's interest in watching the film, a narrative presentation of events is used, the place of dialogues is occupied by endless chains of impressions, memories, emotions, from which the consciousness of the characters is formed, for example: "A stream of living feelings, thoughts, passions, desires rises from the depths of the characters' consciousness. Consciousness appears disordered, chaotic. Reality turns out to be "covered" by the chaos of contemplation, the world is placed in consciousness" ^[1]. Consciousness in a game context can represent the construct of the mind that Jan Bogost spoke about. By moving this concept to the plane of a video game – the "stream of consciousness" can be taken as the basis of the concept, this component can convey the subjective experiences of the player. But consciousness is only the result of processing the game process, it is necessary to understand the environment or the space in which the game takes place.

    Any space has its own properties, the analysis of which has received special importance in the literature, since the author's intention is often traced through it.  For example, in V. Nabokov's story "Pilgram", such properties as: multilevelness, polyfunctionality, "rhyming" of its elements, as well as the active role of this image in creating the implicit content of the work are highlighted ^[2]. The narrative role of space is clearly traced – this plot component implicitly affects the reader, has a complex structure, which is also multifaceted. It is possible to draw a parallel with the understanding of a video game as a complex system, the space of which inherits this complexity. That is, the space itself can already be a narrative tool that influences the perception of the gameplay and which can perform a certain function.  

    A similar idea can be traced in the work of Akchurin I.A., where the author mentioned that as one of the tasks of postmodernism, the creation of virtual worlds that violate causal relationships and thereby make an unforgettable impression on people was announced ^[3]. Consequently, the quality of the "construction" of such a virtual world or space will depend on the gaming experience, which largely determines the success of building a narrative line. If you break the usual course of things, use unusual narrative means in the space itself (such as new connections between phenomena), then you can change the perception of the course of the game, building an image of game situations.

    Summarizing these ideas and considering video games through them, it can be noted that in video games, the virtual world can act as a means of transmitting the idea of space - the environment through which a video game exists. In the context of game design, space is often understood as discrete levels-locations where the gameplay directly unfolds ^[7]. In the concept of "White Room" we propose to understand space as an environment in which, through interaction with characters, passing levels, a specific gaming experience is accumulated. The specificity lies in the fact that the gaming experience is determined by a specific game idea, which is interpreted in its own way by the player. Developing the idea of consciousness, so clearly highlighted in the cinema, in the White Room, the stream of consciousness is the perception by the player of a series of game events that were interpreted by him through his thoughts, feelings, desires.

    The concepts of "stream of consciousness" and "space" are unique in a certain sense: their definitions do not specify the context, i.e. they can be used in multiple and ambiguous situations, game scenes, so these ideas formed the basis for the construction of the narrative concept of the "White Room".

    FEATURES OF INTRODUCING THE IDEA OF SPACE INTO VIDEO GAMES

    In order to fully adapt the idea of the space of literary works and the virtual world highlighted by postmodernism into the plane of a video game, we must understand what qualities the world in which the narrative in video games unfolds has. In video games, this world is called virtual, has its own space-time laws, objects and characters, values and norms of social interaction, which have a rather complex structure ^{[4, 14, 15]}. The virtual world has its own properties and ontological characteristics, namely: lack of self-sufficiency, out-of-bodyness, semantic saturation of virtual gaming reality, simulativeness, expediency, integrity, autonomy and interactivity ^{[5, 16]}. This world can also be viewed in a philosophical sense as an integral space of simulacra (signs that have their own being and are not correlated with any reality) ^[15]. Simulacra act as autonomous objects that are not correlated with any reality other than their own, they model it ^[6]. Characters, objects can act as simulacra in a video game, that is, everything that fills this game world and, depending on the context and gaming experience, get their own interpretation. Consequently, in the virtual world, all the main ideas are modeled as multiple and ambiguous in the process of interpretations and transformations of the game ^[6]. Here, the space as the basis of the narrative concept of the "White Room" should be filled with various simulacra, be suitable for completely different contexts and their individual interpretations.  That is, in any even the most abstract context, it should be understandable, cause a flow of thoughts, ideas and feelings in the player. Simulacra here create the semantic content of the White Room, they are set by the whole video game as a whole, the quality of the gaming experience, the degree of perception of the game will depend on them.

    MANIFESTATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS AS A SUBJECTIVE GAMING EXPERIENCE

    Analyzing the above-mentioned works, we have repeatedly mentioned the influence of an idea on perception, which refers to the terminological apparatus of psychology. It is quite difficult to study gaming experience without referring to this discipline, so in this part we will look at exactly what psychological ideas are combined in the design of gaming experience, which in our concept is reflected through the idea of consciousness in the concept of "White Room".

    The experience gained during the passage of the game is similar to the experience of travel: the narrative has a unique ability to "transfer" players to another reality and change their attitude to the surrounding reality. In this process, immersion takes place — a phenomenological experience of involving people in activities in which they "travel" into the world of stories and change during this journey ^[18]. Green and Brock conceptualized immersion as an engaging and integrative process through which cognitive and affective resources are concentrated ^[18]. The consequence of immersion is a mental state of "flow", being in which the individual is fully involved in what he is doing ^[12]. A streaming state can also occur during the passage of the game, when the complexity of the task corresponds to the game skills: if this balance is violated, the player can leave the game for a long time or completely abandon it ^[11].  In the state of flow, a person acquires a unique gaming experience, which is interpreted by him through his emotions and thoughts. As we mentioned earlier, in our concept, we called the entire process of individual interpretation of a video game consciousness. The idea of consciousness is just the psychological component that generalizes immersion, its consequence is the state of flow, interpretation through emotions and thoughts. This component in the White Room can maintain a balance between the complexity and the skills of the player, logically connect different parts of the level, allows you to rethink game events. 

    To understand exactly how it is possible to create a state of flow, immersion, I.P. Pavlov's idea is interesting that an already existing reaction to a given stimulus is combined with a new unconditional stimulus until this stimulus causes the same reaction ^[13]: when a cut scene is presented during the game/the level, in other words, is an irritant, the player has a certain reaction that is associated with already existing reactions, in the process of which it is assimilated. The creation of a flow state in this sense is the layering of various reactions that underlie the resulting gaming experience, it is important to design this layering by choosing the necessary simulacra and creating a context – so the player will have reactions to the stimuli presented, which will be expressed in game actions.

The idea of consciousness as one of the components of the White Room, in our opinion, is quite difficult due to the individuality of each player. But with the proper implementation of this concept as a narrative tool in a game scenario, it is possible to achieve the desired perception of the game.

    THE NARRATIVE-PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF THE "WHITE ROOM"

    We have considered the basic concepts on which the concept of the "White Room" will be based: space, consciousness, simulacra, now it is important to trace how they will intersect. To do this, let's turn to specific examples and the meaning of the White Room itself. The semiotic component of the White Room is to create a narrative-psychological model of the world in which certain events occur that affect the perception and course of the game. The White Room can be used in various parts of the story, where, depending on the narrative component of the game, its interpretation will be slightly changed.

    The white room can act as the starting setting of the world: where the player will get to if he commits an incorrect game action and "breaks" the virtual world. A similar idea can be traced in the Russian animated series "Smeshariki" in the series "Snotvorets" ("Snotvorets - Smeshariki 2D | Cartoons for children": https://youtu.be/ifkQmUwx_QI?t=215 ). The space is a dream in which the whole action takes place: one of the heroes escapes from danger, meets another hero, asks him to move himself to a safe place. The hero's wish is fulfilled, and he gets into the White Room, where there is another opportunity to ask for what the hero needs so much. This transition, linking the two narrative parts, is based on contrast: the hero tries to escape, runs away from danger on a stone bridge that passes through lava and collapses right behind him, and in one second – a white background, silence. If the moment of danger is an increasing action, then the White Room is a falling one. Simulacra are characters, scenery, and the context is set by history. In the Creator series, on the contrary, the White Room acts as a setting, the creation of the world, where the hero determines the settings of this world. This concept is similar to building a level in a game, where the player independently sets the complexity of the future location.

    Another idea of the White Room is its understanding as a place of psychological relief, self-reflection, memories of the past as an understanding of oneself today. This idea is embodied in the humorous video "THE WHITE ROOM" ("THE WHITE ROOM | Chris & Jack": https://youtu.be/qjtQSMe0VeI ). The protagonist finds himself in a White room, where he is told that he has died, and now the hero can ask all the questions he is interested in. Through this representation of the White Room, you can give hints to the player when passing a level, guide him if he cannot figure out the game in the case of a complex plot. In such a White Room, the player can relieve the tension that has arisen as a result of working with a difficult task, that is, to change his stream of consciousness somewhat. Thus, immersion in the gameplay is preserved, and the player does not just receive background information about the game, but in an artistic form, continuing to play and interact with the virtual world, understands all the difficulties that have arisen.

    The white room can be not only a component of the falling action, setting, or "game reference", culminating game events can also occur in it as a space, for example, a boss battle. So, in the video of the musical group Imagine Dragons "Believer" ("Imagine Dragons - Believer (Official Music Video)": https://youtu.be/7wtfhZwyrcc ) during the first seconds, the protagonist and antagonist heroes are created, after which a decisive battle takes place, which is accompanied by an interesting change of frames and a metaphor of a boy drawing a certain logo – a tattoo of the protagonist. The play of neon colors creates a feeling of being in a different reality, gives the event special importance.  

    The whole game can take place in the space of the White Room. For example, in the puzzle "Antichamber", where there is no plot, as such, the main task of the player is to pass the rooms in the game world, reaching the last room-the destination (https://store.steampowered.com/app/219890/Antichamber /). The absence of a clutter of locations shifts the focus of the player's attention to the puzzle, which allows you to focus on it, and elements of surrealism create a special atmosphere of being in the game.

    In all the examples, the main meaning of the White Room is traced, which consists in influencing the player's consciousness through the most minimalistic space. At the same time, it is important to determine the design of such a space that will meet the requirements of this minimalism. In the series "The Dreamworker", the humorous video "THE WHITE ROOM", the stereotype of white space appears as a place of psychological relief, psychological impact on the viewer, when in the music video "Believer" and the puzzle "Antichamber" the space is expressed through neon colors – both options for filling the space retain the basic idea in the maximum non-congestion of the gaming environment. But in addition to the color design of the White Room, it is necessary to take into account the basics of compositional, plastic and aesthetic study, the principles of building this model.

    COMPOSITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WHITE ROOM

    The compositional characteristic of a white room is determined by the space it sets. It is quite difficult to come to a unified description of the compositional model of the White Room due to the flexibility of the concept idea itself – the connection of the mismatched parts of the game story. But it is possible to offer different ways of creating space and those compositional qualities that are important to consider in order to create a harmonious scene. In narrative design, composition is both a channel for transmitting information between the game environment and the player, and varying the formal characteristics of individual elements. At the same time, the speed of perception and the speed of decision-making depends on the degree of evidence of spatial connections in the game world underlying the compositional solution ^[7]. During the analysis of the perception of various types of space by Professor K. Alexander, it was revealed that the symmetry of spaces, objects and game mechanics is perceived harmoniously by players, which brings a sense of confidence and some predictability, asymmetry, on the contrary, creates a confrontation of the sides, gradients increase the expression of the visual series, and empty space allows you to understand and feel different scenes more deeply ^[8]. Depending on the narrative design of the entire game, you can use the symmetry/asymmetry of a specific White Room space.  In a certain sense, universal compositional qualities are proportionality, scale, compositional balance, unity of character of the form of all elements, coloristic and tonal solution, since these qualities are a predictor of harmonious perception of the whole image ^{[10, p. 9]}.

In addition to the harmonious perception of a White Room, aesthetic perception also matters. Thus, W. Hogarth in the "Analysis of Beauty" defined the criteria for what is considered beautiful, which include the correspondence of the form of the product to its function and the principle of simplicity ^[9]. The correspondence of the form of the work to its function is manifested in the construction of a White Room based on the task that the narrative designer sets himself. The principle of simplicity is observed through the use of only those elements in the construction of the white room model that really have a semiotic component. For example, if there is a dialogue between the antagonist and the protagonist in the White Room, it will be relevant to place chairs and a table in the space as simulacra, as in the video "THE WHITE ROOM". When choosing harmonic combinations of color tones in the White Room model, it is ideal to use colors that are neutral in relation to kinship and contrast (yellow — red — blue), in this case, the color scheme is not a point of interest for the player, his attention is drawn to other gameplay elements.

    conclusion

    The white room has a polyfunctionality that varies depending on the game context and the goals that the narrative designer sets for himself. This narrative concept is based on three concepts – consciousness, space, simulacra. Space acts as an environment in which a certain gaming experience is accumulated or a stream of consciousness is formed. Simulacra is everything that fills the White Room (characters, objects, etc.). Space, simulacra and consciousness are in a sense universal: regardless of the game context, there is where the game action unfolds, what is in this space, and how it is all perceived. The specificity of the White Room model lies in the compositionally correct design of the space and regulation of the gaming experience, its superimposition on disconnected game scenes, the choice of the right simulacra, which are determined by the gaming context.

    This model can be used in the narrative design of a video game both as a non-trivial "game reference", and as a place in which the setting, the rise of the action, the culmination or decline of the action, the resolution, and as a specific environment in which the whole game takes place. Its main advantage is that the player is immersed in a minimalist environment where there are no distractions, he is focused on certain game actions laid down by the developers, so it is important to pay attention to the game action that will take place in the White Room, since the entire focus of attention will be shifted to him.

    This study can be considered as the first attempt to create a universal narrative concept that allows a narrative designer to appeal with a ready-made solution and adjust it to a specific video game scenario.