Genesis of media formats of domestic game journalism

The research focus of the article is on reconstructing the dynamics of the development of Russian game journalism, the transformation of its media formats and multimodal semiotics, as well as on exposing peculiarities of viewers' media preferences. Methodologically, the research is based on a set of theoretical and empirical techniques: the principle of historical reconstruction of media narratives, the method of the multimodal semiotic analysis of media texts, and the method of a single answer online survey. In the history of domestic game journalism, two main stages can be identified: the classical (print-televisual) - from the early 1990s to the early 2010s - and the online-digital - from 2011-2013 to the present. During the first period, two mass media formats of public discourse about video games emerged - print and televisual. Within the framework of print media, the groundwork for the language of Russian game journalism was laid - the modal structure of presenting the material, its rubrication, narrative features and even nomenclature. A semiotic standard of a video game review as a non-linearly organised, semiotically asymmetric media text built on the convergence of the textual and the visual was formed. The frame of the internal structure of a game review comprises three central semantic clusters - narrative-related (plot and setting), gameplay-related (gameplay, control and interface), and technical (graphics and sound). The new stage of domestic game journalism is characterised by the spread of online media platforms - websites, video hosting and streaming services. The existentially oriented concept of video game reviews, theoretically substantiated by Kieron Gillen in the manifesto "The New Game Journalism", according to which the main value of the game is concentrated in the player's personal experience, is gaining considerable popularity in the segment of citizen/blogger YouTube journalism. In the dynamics of the genesis of Russian game journalism, the semiotics of video game narratives gravitated to ever greater multimodality, and its semantics became more complex, evolving along the path of narrative professionalisation, which included the formation of conceptual identity and authorial stylisation. Data on game journalism media preferences in the 1990s demonstrate a greater influence of the televisual (58%) media format compared to print (42%). In the first decade of the 21st century, a change in media preferences was recorded with a noticeable shift (74%) towards print media. Modern information media preferences of game journalism testify to the leadership of the YouTube video hosting service (68%), with website media resources being in the second place (24%). The study notes the absolute marginality of classic media formats - television and print media, which together account for less than 1% in the structure of media consumption. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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