Gamified practices of contemporary media

This work studies some foreign, Russian and regional gamified projects. In the article their different classifications are reviewed and our own typology of projects on the various bases is provided. It is based on analysis of 38 major foreign projects, which are mentioned by researchers and are known in media community. The clear majority of gamified projects which are produced by Russian internet media is nothing else but some «Do you know» or «Guess the right answer» tests. The content’s analysis of projects by Meduzaweb-site was made in order to research contemporary practices of gamifying in Russian media. The majority of 131 texts is presented with following themes: «school program and common knowledge», «cities and countries», «literature and art» and «films, cartoons and serials». As if for thematic and editorial’s argumentation of 11 games, which appeared on this web-site, even the most traditional games (like «The Minesweeper») are justified by current news. Apart from the tests, the majority of games are based on political or economic problems. The analysis shows that gamifying in contemporary Russian media is nothing more serious than a way to hold the attention of the audience. The tests are the main game practices in Russian media. Analyzing the regional media, we have found that 15 tests were created by two Novosibirsk internet media in 2016. More often they were created by editorial’s journalists with a use of different photos as a material. In average, there are 45 reposts in Facebook and 22 reposts in Vkontakte for each test. But there are hundreds of commentaries. In general, our analysis of regional gamified projects has shown that they do not make a web-site more visited than a routine journalistic material. Interviews with regional creators of tests helped us to reveal editorial’s argumentation for using gamified practices: deeper immersion into the material; the situation, when the game (test) itself is becoming a news event for media from other regions; self-PR for potential advertisers. Depending on the basis of game mechanics we offered the classification of Russian gamified projects. A) game elements are embedded into the context, the wish to make a good impression on your social web friends is exploited. B) a way of adults’ secondary socialization. C) the gamifying itself, embedded into difficult and boring process which is aimed to improve social conditions. But in the contemporary practices of Russian media the themes of the tests often distract the reader from the social and political contexts. The professional logic of the journalism presupposes treating your audience as citizens - it is the main part of the journalism, and marketing is secondary. Gamifying practices in Russian media are not using transformative potential of these underivative processes. They just tend to increase the time which user spends on the site.