Promoting a positive video game culture means generating pedagogical reflection around video games: thinking about it as a cultural tool able to foster many facets, not only hedonism but also cognition, learning and development of a person. It also means considering video games worthy of study and accurate and careful analysis of its characteristics, mechanics, and languages.

The Council of Europe considers Digital Citizenship Education a key element to nurture a positive, inclusive and effective video game culture for tomorrow’s citizens. The more aware future generations are of the economic models, structures, languages, risks and opportunities within video games, the more it will be possible to build a society that is open and ready to recognise the beauty of this medium, and benefit from it, build better games, and minimise the dangers that video games, as well as other media, inevitably have.

A Video Game Culture Working Group has been established to drive and steer the initiative.

The group contributes to building and empowering a network of professionals that deal with video games and provides contacts of potential speakers, guests to invite, and experts to involve in DCE initiatives.

The objectives of the DCE’s Video Game Culture for the next years are:

• raise awareness about the necessity to promote a VGC among different levels and different targets (e.g.: educators, youngsters, media, game developers)
• identify a series of an area of interest related to Video Game Culture and Digital Citizenship Education
• build a stronger video game culture network composed by the most relevant stakeholders in Europe
• implement a series of initiatives, publications and materials dedicated to Video Game Culture and to Digital Citizenship Education.