An emerging approach in communication research: Video games as social spaces

Abstract

Beyond its importance as a product of the entertainment industry, video games have become a communicative product that, like any other, includes an important social dimension. Some debates installed in the collective imagination have created a kind of common sense that emphasizes its nature as mere play and the potential dangers of their use, while its powerful potential as a vector for innovation in certain communication practices related to the emergence of new audiences have only been partially studied. This article provides a framework for discussion to begin to understand these practices, from key issues such as the formal characteristics of the games, the many pleasures that they involve and the relationships established between games and players.