Crafting National Image via Video Games' Fictional Universes and Implications for Digital Diplomacy: Portrayal and Perception of China and Japan through 'Reassembling' and 'Reterritorialization' of Cultural and Natural Heritage in Genshin Impact

Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia. 2025. Vol. 24. No. 2. P. 136–162.

Varpahovskis E., Anastasiia Borisenko

Prominent video games such as Genshin Impact have been increasingly recognized asinstrumental vectors for the diffusion of information, possessing the capacity to shape attitudesand behaviors across diverse life spheres. This study employs a bifurcated methodologicalapproach involving primary and secondary data: firstly, a functional ludostylistic analysis ofthe game’s semiotic structures, and secondly, a series of in-depth qualitative interviews. Theinitial analytical phase elucidates the distinctive semantic characteristics of the game’sfictional universes that establish linkages to China and Japan. Subsequently, the second phasethrough a set of in-depth interviews (n=18) investigates how these fictional-actualcorrespondences are decoded and internalized by participating gamers. To interpret thesephenomena, the study adopts Penix-Tadsen’s theoretical constructs of ‘reassembling’ and‘reterritorialization,’ contextualized within frameworks of tangible and intangible natural andcultural heritage. Findings reveal that interviewees consistently identified allegoricalreferences to China and Japan within the game’s fictional realms and observed inherentrepresentational biases perpetuated by the game’s designers. Nonetheless, such recognitiondid not culminate in outright rejection of the game or its constructed universes. In conclusion,the study delivers a discussion around that national branding as well as soft power processesthat can be effectively activated within virtual environments through the deployment ofelaborately crafted fictional universes.

Keywords: культурное наследие, cultural heritage, public diplomacy, soft power, мягкая сила, видеоигры, videogames, digital public diplomacy