The institutionalization of the digital game. The first municipal regulation of public videogames in Morelia (1985)

Video games have changed several aspects of life and its introduction in public places in Mexico meant that cities had to adapt to them, through of the creation of regulations that sought to institutionalize them, by making them legal and designated to specific spaces and times. In this work we will take the example of the regulation of the city of Morelia, which was published in 1985, being one of the first of its kind in the country. The document served as a civilizing discourse to these new and suspicious devices, which helped characterize the practice as an issue related to leisure, and as a legitimacy mechanism that sought to monitor and control them in public spaces.