video games

The article analyzes possibility of using video games for the patriotic education of youth. The experience of foreign and domestic game developers in filling them with political content is presented, which forms a certain attitude among users to politics, to its past and present, its values and subjects. The risks that may arise when using video games as a means of patriotic and civic education and that are important to consider when designing and implementing such educational technology are noted.

Video games are one of the most popular forms of digital leisure among Russians in general and young people in particular. Passion for video games can be accompanied not only by virtual practices, but also by participation in offl ine events of various levels: from regional “gatherings” to international festivals. Cosplay is one of the forms of activity of gamers in the offl ine space, the study of which can contribute to channeling the activity of young people into non-gaming projects.

The article examines the structural foundations of interactions between gamers in online games on the example of the youth segment of Russian audience of computer games. The analysis of the main elements of in-game mechanics structuring the communicative interactions of gamers in online games is carried out on the basis of the B. Latour’s actor-network theory, allowing us to consider the game as an actor of socio-technical interactions.

In the last decade, all over the world and in Russia, in particular, there has been an active development of the computer games industry and an increase in the gaming audience, while an outstripping growth of the youth audience is recorded every year. The presentation of the realities of the gaming audience of computer games is fruitful, taking into account the gender characteristics accumulated in computer games.