Object of study: video games

In the article the author studies the phenomenon of video games, considering them from different angles: firstly, as a powerful industry, secondly, as the phenomenon of modern popular and mass culture, and thirdly, as a new art form. The author analyzes in which scientific fields the research of this phenomenon is carried out today: computer and engineering sciences, psychology, sociology, art history, culturology, pedagogy, social communications, design. In the article a brief overview of the main views on video games in these disciplines, which are put forward by foreign and Ukrainian scholars is provided, which also helps the author to gradually outline the state of research on video games in the world and Ukraine today. At the same time, the author has the opportunity to highlight exactly how and at what levels video games affect society, culture and people at the individual level. The author provides statistics collected from several international reports on the video game industry about the industry's income, age and gender of players, to outline the state of the video game industry in the world. The researcher attempts to define the concept of "video game" and the related concept of "virtual reality". The athor considers the methods of genre classification of video games, names the main genres of it: adventure, fighting, first-person shooter (FPS), platformer, puzzle, racing, retro, role-playing (RPG), simulator, sports, strategy, survival and horror, arcades, slasher, stealth, quest. In the end the genres of video games, the features and characteristics of these genres are described.