Virtual Death

Marcin Przybyłek

In the article the author discusses the problem of aesthetics and the meaning of death scenes in computer games. He describes different types of games and ponders on the multilevelness of the observed phenomena: game death may be analysed not from an ethical perspective, but from the archetypal one. From this perspective, the questions of positive or negative influence on the player's psyche cease to be important, however, another question arises - concerning the restoration of the warrior archetype. The author emphasises that the hero is not the sole integration centre and concentrates on the figure of the explorer/detective. He gives examples of computer games promoting this kind of protagonist, and presents a thesis, that perhaps this figure, in comparison to the warrior, is a development in the right direction.

KEYWORDS

computer game, warrior archetype, death scenes