Video game as a form of modeling social reality.

The relevance of the study is determined by the increasing influence of modern gaming practices and their increasingly widespread use in various areas of modern culture. This gaming praxis deconstructs not only individual consciousness, but also reality itself, forming new features and properties in it that have not been studied before. The purpose of the work is to highlight the main features of a video game as a form of virtual modeling of social processes. Objectives : Research objectives: to characterize gaming praxis as a phenomenon of digital culture; to identify the possibilities of a video game for studying social processes in a controlled environment. Methodology . To achieve this goal, the following methods were used: comparative to determine the features of a video game that differs from a traditional game; dialectical method, which allows us to understand modeling not only as a method of cognition, but also as a process of constructing social reality, which has its own stages, purpose, spatio-temporal characteristics and, most importantly, affects the surrounding social environment. Results. Video games in modern culture are one of the main features of virtual modeling of society, aimed at constructing social reality through the method of play. Video games synthesize the best features of previous forms of gaming and artistic experience. They successfully integrate the interactivity of traditional games with narrative techniques of literature, cinema and theater, creating a unique cultural and technical conglomerate. Conclusions . Video games are a complex cultural phenomenon that forms a special digital reality, which is at a meta-level in relation to the real world. They form new forms of social interaction, stimulate creativity and innovation, but at the same time they carry potential risks. Understanding these nuances is the key to the constructive use of this technology and cultural phenomenon, which continues to develop dynamically, influencing more and more aspects of our lives, from education to politics and economics.