Theoretical foundations of the study of the convergence of political discourse and gamified media

In the modern media environment, the digitalization of political news has become a significant trend, and the gamification of political information has turned into an essential component of political communication. Gamification is often regarded as a form of infotainment. Currently, there is a lack of research focused on the integration of political discourse with gaming media, as well as an absence of a specialized theoretical framework. In this work, the author examines the formation and development of political transmedia projects, conducting a systematic analysis of examples such as "Animal Crossing," "Political Machine 2024," and Lee Jamon's election campaign. This allows for an analysis of the relationship between political discourse, political transmedia projects, and gaming media, and then to generalize and derive a theoretical model of gamification in political communication based on this. The research primarily employs methods of literature analysis, case study network analysis, and comparative research methods. The relevance of this study is determined by the need to conceptualize new forms of political communication emerging at the intersection of institutional discourse and the entertainment industry. Until recently, political discourse and gaming media were considered as autonomous, poorly intersecting fields, but today their convergence has become a stable trend. This work attempts for the first time not only to document this phenomenon but also to propose a tool for its systematic analysis. Unlike studies that are limited to describing individual cases or effects, the author constructs a comprehensive theoretical model of "gamification in political communication." This model interprets the practice of gamification not as a collection of disparate techniques but as a dynamic process of disseminating political content that unfolds in four interconnected links: input, transmission process, output, and impact. Thus, a framework is introduced that allows for a transition from fragmentary observations to predicting communicative effects. It is important to emphasize that despite the high demand for such tools in applied fields—from political consulting to media planning—there remains a lack of theoretical development. The proposed study aims to fill this gap by linking the categorical apparatus of discourse analysis with advancements in transmedia storytelling and game studies.