Cross-cultural Interpretation Of Traditional Chinese Cultural Elements In European Video Games

Since the end of the 20th century,electronic games have emerged in the commercial market and become a field that cannot be ignored in the research of communication.Western electronic games started to develop earlier,with more mature technology and narrative framework.As the birthplace of Western civilization,Europe’s cultural values have been deeply embedded in the application of game elements,making the game itself extend beyond entertainment to be a medium of cultural output and ideological transmission.In recent years,the country attaches more importance to traditional Chinese culture in the process of cross-cultural communication,and takes it as the spiritual core of the national image.In terms of value symbols,cultural influence needs to be based on meaning sharing,while the realization of cultural communication function of domestic games also needs to take Western markets as the object of observation to explore the cognitive tendency of foreign players to Chinese traditional cultural elements.Therefore,video games that are produced and published by European manufacturers and contain elements of traditional Chinese culture become the most persuasive research texts.A perspective on the presentation form of Chinese traditional culture in western mainstream video games will bring new enlightenment to the "two creation" of traditional culture and cultural exchange,which is a blank to be filled in the research of cross-cultural communication in China.Based on the relevant researches on western video games involving Chinese traditional culture at home and abroad,and taking the typical British strategy game"Total War" series as an example,this paper mainly uses the research method of text analysis to analyze the presentation forms of Chinese traditional cultural elements in game texts and players’ cognitive attitudes.This paper summarizes the cross-cultural communication behaviors of Chinese traditional culture in European video games,expands the media scope of domestic communication studies,and provides theoretical basis for the adjustment of the national cross-cultural communication strategy in the emerging media field of video games,so as to better express and spread the "Chinese voice".This paper mainly consists of six chapters:The "Introduction" part defines the concept of Chinese traditional cultural elements as the research subject,reviews and summarizes the researches on cross-cultural communication phenomena in the field of video games in recent years,defines the research path and research objectives of this study,and clarifies its research value for communication theory and application level.The first chapter "Cross-cultural Interpretation Context of Chinese traditional cultural elements" combs the historical evolution of the application of Chinese traditional cultural elements in the field of video games,focuses on the analysis of the text background of The Three Kingdoms and the medieval warhammer related to the research object,defines the typical and reference value of the research topic,and lays a foundation for the textual analysis and discussion of the following paper.Chapter 2 "Elements of Traditional Chinese Culture in Total War:The Three Kingdoms" and Chapter 3 "Total War:"Traditional Chinese Cultural Elements of the Sinian Faction of Warhammer Ⅲ" analyzes the text of the two Total War works and deconstructs the application performance and communication effects of traditional Chinese cultural elements in the game through different aspects such as audio-visual experience,narrative text,avatar setting and game mechanism.In the process of analysis,it is found that European game companies pay more attention to traditional Chinese culture and understand the concepts significantly better than before.Their games are not only recognized by Chinese players,but also stimulate the interest of players from all over the world to understand traditional Chinese thoughts and explore traditional Chinese culture.However,due to the influence of cultural differences and game mechanics,the two works have westernized the presentation of some details of Chinese traditional cultural elements,and there is still considerable room for improvement in the aspects of text ideography,image construction,narrative logic and so on.Chapter 4,"The Cross-cultural Interpretation Context of Total War:The Three Kingdoms and Total War:Warhammer Ⅲ",combined with the analysis conclusions of the first two chapters,explores the influence of the profit-seeking nature of commercial companies and the secondary creation of player communities on cross-cultural interpretation outside the game text.With the gradual growth of China’s comprehensive national strength,European video games’ preference for Chinese traditional culture is precisely due to the huge domestic player market,and the world-class high-quality works further enable Chinese traditional culture to enter the global vision,forming a virtuous circle under the general trend of cultural integration and development.At the same time,the secondary creation of the community enables the players to participate in the creation of the game as "game laborers",which makes the content that the original game fails to show be imagined and expanded,and finally promotes the creative transformation and promotion of Chinese traditional culture in the media of video games.In Chapter 5,the Interpretation,Evolution and Dissemination of Chinese Traditional Culture by European Game Circles is analyzed in the context of cultural interpretation by European video games circles.As an ancient civilization,Chinese traditional culture has been loved and respected by the whole world in the field of games,but it is limited by the non-serious nature of games as a medium.Cross-cultural cultural exchange and communication more need the promotion of exquisite narrative and the elaboration of details.The country can broaden the coverage of cultural communication through electronic games,build industrial chain by professional talents,and control the power of cultural discourse and communication in its own hands,so as to further promote the traditional Chinese culture in the world,connect it with the modern culture of socialist China,and break the stereotype of Western countries on China.