Beyond entertainment: how intangible cultural heritage in video games shapes youth cultural identity

While video games have traditionally been regarded as entertainment media, their role has expanded to encompass cultural dissemination and transmission. This study investigated how the integration of intangible cultural heritage elements within video games positively influences the development of cultural identity among the young generation. Data were collected via an online questionnaire completed by 513 young participants in China. Regression analysis and cluster analysis were employed to examine the underlying mechanisms. There are several main findings: (1) The degree of intangible cultural heritage embedded in video games exhibits a significant positive correlation with the enhancement of cultural identity attitudes and behaviors among young populations, where deeper integration yields stronger effects; (2) cultural identity attitude plays the mediating role between intangible cultural heritage embeddedness and cultural identity behavior; and (3) the impact of intangible cultural heritage embeddedness varies across different youth groups, as younger players demonstrate a higher level of responsiveness than the older players. These findings highlight video games' significant capacity to foster cultural identity among youth.