Problematics and Functional Diversity of Video Game Journalism in the Modern Russian Media “

Abstract

The article reveals and studies the problematics and functional diversity of video game journalism in the journalistic texts of “Igromania” – one of the most popular monthly publications in modern Russia. Each issue of the journal published several articles on socially significant topics. Having studied the archives of "Igromania" (36 in total) for the period 2015-2017, we have identified 106 articles covering social issues. Using methods of continuous monitoring of “Igromania”, quantitative and substantive analysis of its articles, we found out that social problems are present in the author's columns and special sections. A large part of the media texts analysed dealt with problems related to social inequality, unemployment and discrimination. The authors of the article found that modern Russian gaming publications are different focus on social issues, which helps to expand the horizons of readers. Having studied the texts of gaming journalists of “Igromania”, we found out that there is a decrease in the critical author's assessment. Using the functional analysis, we have considered the main functions of video game journalism and concluded that it is characterized by significant irregularity in the implementation of the main functions of journalism. In addition, we found that the most common genre in the video game edition of “Igromania” is a review, you can also find notes, reports, sketches, essays and essays. These characteristics allowed to determine the effectiveness of the texts of gaming journalists “Igromania”, their problems and thematic focus. The results of our study complement and extend the findings of examples from modern practice of the Russian video game journalism research results, contained in articles and the scientific literature D. Amrich (2012), S. Anderson (2007), D. Auerbach (2014), K. Gillen (2005), J. Hall (2006), B. J. Harris (2014), M. Musgrove (2007), D. Tennant (2009).