Playful Trajectories and Experimentations

The main goal of this work is to discuss the place and role of video games in contemporary societies and their impact on individual relationships. It analyses how the development of video games is a sign of and a factor in the democratization of modern societies. It explores how video games contribute to the moral and political socialization of children and teenagers. The work is structured into two parts. The first explores the methodological, ethical and epistemological implications of Games Studies, and shows how the development of an independent field of research on video games can be analyzed as a sign of democratization. The second part focuses on youth identity experimentations and how video games can contribute to the democratization of social relations. Play inequalities are discussed, but it is also shown how video games are reconfiguring family and peer relationships, thereby influencing the movement of democratization of societies.