Video games as relational institutions: emotions, rules, and digital environments

Emmanuel Petit ()
Additional contact information
Emmanuel Petit: BSE - Bordeaux sciences économiques - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: This paper argues that video games – far from being mere entertainment – constitute fully fledged digital institutions. Focusing on massively multiplayer online games, it shows how rule-based environments make institutional processes unusually visible, traceable, and dynamic. Building on post-Northian institutional theory and the 4E cognition framework, the paper advances a socio-cognitive perspective in which institutions are not only systems of rules and incentives but also affective environments. Emotions are shown to play a constitutive role, understood relationally rather than as internal states or institutional properties alone: they shape how agents interpret constraints, coordinate action, and engage in moral evaluation. Through the analysis of violence, reward mechanisms, and governance structures, the paper demonstrates how institutional design organises both behaviour and emotional experience. By foregrounding the affective dimension of institutional life, it contributes to a broader theory of digital institutions in which cognition, interaction, and emotion are tightly integrated.

Keywords: 4E cognition; Digital institutions; Emotions; Institutional design; Socio-cognitive environments; Video games (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09-30
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Journal of Institutional Economics, 2026, 22, pp.e52. ⟨10.1017/S1744137426100861⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05774821

DOI: 10.1017/S1744137426100861

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().