Videoludic Discourse and Transhumanism in SOMA

In this work, we perform an analysis of the videoludic discourse in SOMA (2015), selected because of its high diegetic, philosophical and, ultimately, discoursive degree. The ideas about the ethics of transhumanism and human awareness that it suggests are studied as part of a larger discourse: the moral limits of science and technology. In this way, we offer a theoretical framework in which the discoursive potentiality of video games is pointed out in correlation with the narrative depth. In particular, we advocate for a conception of video games as electronic multimodal discourses, in such a way that, to analyze a videoludic discourse, we must consider the different multisemiotic elements of which it consists and not only the text (which would result in a biased or limited analysis). We take presuppositions from narratology as a point of departure and we propose seven discoursive indicators that canalize the multimodal discourse of SOMA: diegetic chronotopes, metamorphic narrative elements, optional narrative elements, actants with ceasing power, dialogues, moral choices and the survey. It is concluded that video games, insomuch as they are “affective systems”, promote the representation and the subsequent transmission of complex human feelings (such as those derived from transhumanism) that should be studied by means of a multimodal discourse analysis which pays attention to the different semiotic components that comprise video games.