Editor's note: 

The video gaming industry has grown significantly over the past decade, with China emerging as one of the world's largest markets. Its impact extends beyond entertainment, influencing how we learn, work, and connect. Dr. Felania Liu is a game studies scholar at Beijing Normal University and curator of the Homo Ludens Archive, the first public video game archive in China. In the three-part series "New Perspectives on Gaming," Liu offers a fresh framework viewing games as tools of education and new force for cross-cultural dialogue. In Part 1, she explores game literacy.

Have you ever found yourself mindlessly tapping through mobile game notifications, only to realize an hour has slipped away? Or felt that little dopamine rush when a "streak" notification pops up? This isn't accidental – it's by design. Games have become the invisible architecture shaping our daily lives, from how we work to how we learn and connect.

With 670 million gamers, China has evolved into what I call a "mega-gaming society." This language of games is everywhere. It's in the apps that reward our reading, the programs that gamify saving the planet, and the workplaces that rank our performance. But while we all speak this language, few of us understand its grammar. That understanding is what we call game literacy.

What exactly is game literacy?

Game literacy isn't about how many games you mastered, or how well you played. It's the ability to critically understand and make use of games and gamification systems.

Gamification refers to the use of game and game elements such as points, badges, and leader board in non-game contexts.

This entails recognizing how mechanics influence behavior, discerning the economic models behind games, and maintaining boundaries between virtual achievements and real-life priorities.

Consider how delivery drivers navigate "rush order bonuses," and students maintain "study streaks." They're carefully designed behavior modification systems with economic incentives. Without game literacy, we become unwitting subjects of algorithmic manipulation, mistaking external reward systems for personal motivation.

A robust game literacy ecosystem involves multiple stakeholders. For players, it means becoming self-aware, responsible gamers who understand their motivations, recognize manipulation, and balance gaming with life. 

For non-players – parents, teachers, policymakers – it means moving beyond simplistic "games are evil" narratives to engage with games as complex cultural artifacts that can be both beneficial and harmful, depending on use.

Economic drivers behind games

Critically classifying games is the first step toward scientific game literacy. Not all games affect players equally. After 18 years of research on games and their social impact, we have developed a classification based on economic models, each yielding distinct cultural effects and psychological impacts.

We categorize games into two fundamental types based on their economic DNA: ​artisan games​ (or artisanal games) and ​consumption games.

Artisan games are like digital novels or films. A one-time purchase grants a complete, authored experience, as seen in board games and subscription-based MMOs (massive multiplayer online games). 

These cultural artifacts are like artisan works, ideal for deep engagement, and can develop into sequels that help to form the cultural gene. Consequently, these works should enjoy an extended lifespan as valuable cultural artifacts, readily adaptable for educational reuse – far exceeding their initial purpose as mere commercial products.

Consumption games operate as continuous services. While free to start, they are designed to maximize engagement and spending, often by creating small frustrations that can be solved through in-game purchases. ​This model dominates over 80 percent of China's video game market, an economic reality that often prioritizes player retention over cultural depth or player well-being.

In a sense, the cultural experience from this type of game comes from the scenario where "playsumer" (player-as-consumer) shops for popular ideological symbols within a virtual supermarket of ideas. They employ multifaceted monetization mechanisms that cultivate habits, exploit psychological vulnerabilities, and blur the boundaries between playing and paying.

When video games enter the classroom

Our "Class-i-Game" project is the pilot study that rose to this challenge and has already proved its toolbox practical. Built on the Class-i-Game model we developed, the approach grafts gamification techniques onto curated, artisan-game experiences inside the classroom.

The "i" foregrounds student agency and stands for learning "in" games. We use only artisan titles because their cohesive, rule-bound worlds act as ready-made "classrooms-in-a-box."

Since 2022 the initiative has outgrown pure research to become a collaborative, not-for-profit social venture. Through the Homo Ludens Archive, hundreds of middle- and high-school teachers have embedded quality artisan games – Uncharted Waters IV (geography), the Pokemon series (math), and Black Myth: Wukong (history, geography, politics, music, art, PE, and four more subjects) – into daily lessons. Students take action, dive deep, and practice the foundational competencies of each discipline – something far harder to achieve without games' immersive interactivity.

Our educational explorations have also proven that even teachers with limited gaming experience can leverage existing artisan games to teach foundational disciplinary competencies in classrooms.

For families, co-playing beats bans. Parents can guide discussions on mechanics and manipulation, helping kids resist compulsion. Games fill gaps in life education too. Frustration, self-reflection, failure, even mortality become tangible lessons through play.

The path forward

Games rank among the most important ideological tools of the digital age, yet their values are shaped by economic models. We need regulations that protect vulnerable groups without stifling creativity, education systems that teach game literacy alongside media literacy, parents who guide rather than forbid, and developers who acknowledge how economic models shape expression – without conflating or disguising consumption games as artisan ones.

Game literacy, therefore, involves both resisting manipulation and wisely harnessing this heritage. The choice isn't whether to engage with games, but how to do so consciously, critically, and constructively.

Kang Congcong, vice curator of Homo Ludens Archive, also contributed to the article. All graphics are provided by Felania Liu. Cover image is reedited by Li Yueyun.