Heroic dimension and monomyth in video games

The relevance of studying myth is due to its invisible and at the same time total presence in culture. We view video games as a product of post-non-classical culture, as new simulation technologies that provide a sense of control, active participation, and freedom of action. Video games open up new possibilities for constructing mythological realities that are not yet comprehended. They make it possible to create many virtual worlds inhabited by fictional characters and objects, which, however, acquire their existential forms in the gameplay, embodied in actions, thinking, behavior and creativity of players. The purpose of this article is to study the image of a hero and his journey (monomyth) in video games and the features that they acquire due to the medium. Mythological stories about heroes are timeless in nature, they are understandable and close to each of us, because the depths of the human psyche are rooted in the past. Monomyth, presented by J. Campbell is universal. It can be found in ancient myths and legends, as well as in modern narrative practices, including literature, cinema, video games. We traced the evolution of the hero image in video games: 1) the heroic emerges in video games by the mid-1980s. Heroes are mostly invincible, unemotional men. Monomyth is presented as a path of a hero, but with no certain beginning and no end; 2) in the 1990s, characters of video games are totally anthropomorphized, the heroic era begins. Monomyth elements are almost fully present in video games; 3) since the 2000s, the heroic has been democratized in video games. This process is illustrated by the example of the Metal Gear Solid video game series. In modern video games, monomyth acquires variability, which is influenced by nonlinear gameplay, side quests and the open world. Having analyzed the mythological hero image and monomyth, we have identified a peculiar feature of the heroic in video games, which is democratization and procedurality. In comparison with other media video games liberate the heroic, democratizing it to extreme and making it potentially universal. The transformation of the heroic image and monomyth in modern video games leads to the fact that each of us can be a hero, or rather, we can continuously become one over and over again.

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