Month: May 2018
We’re going on a Pokéhunt: The community behind Pokémon Go
ABSTRACT: With the advent of Internet-related technology and computer-mediated communication, the way that communities come together and interact with each other has changed radically. We now have infinite online mediums, used to chat, find support or make friends. The community surrounding the casual mobile game Pokémon Go is a great example of a community that comes together both online and offline. This paper will examine the ways in which the Pokémon Go community form a ‘third space’, both on and offline, and look at the civic, social and health opportunities that can arise from such a community.
KEYWORDS: Pokémon Go, casual mobile games, third space, computer-mediated communication, online community, online games, weak ties
Pokémon, of Nintendo fame, is a hugely influential franchise. With over 20 years of history including numerous video games on Nintendo’s many platforms, anime shows and movies, a popular trading card game and more, Pokémon is set in a modern fantasy world, filled with creatures that players can capture and train as they travel about the world. The Pokémon franchise has remained successful with the July 2016 release of Pokémon Go, a ‘location-based augmented reality game where players explore their actual surroundings to capture and evolve creatures in the real world (Niantic, Inc., 2016). Pokémon has always been designed with a community spirit in mind, be it through trading creatures or battling against another player. These elements of the original Pokémon games are present in Pokémon Go. Players can gather at areas frequented by Pokémon, battle gyms or complete raids together. Communication between players is mediated by platforms such as Facebook groups or Discord channels, and, as players become closer to each other, personal online chats and messaging. As Mims (2016) points out, the game is a ‘stealth social’ game – while not explicitly for bringing people together, it does so anyway as those playing it share ideas, tips and progress. This paper will argue that the Pokémon Go is a great example of both a virtual and physical ‘third place’, and that the game has the ability to move a virtual and online communities offline and into a physical setting. It will examine the definition of a third place and how it relates to both the community and the vehicle of the game itself, and how the game can help bring community together and provide civic, social and health opportunities. The game has the possibility to provide great community support and strength.
As a group that engages via computer-mediated communication (CMC), as well as offline and in ‘real life’, the Pokémon Go community can be seen as inhabiting a virtual ‘third space’. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg introduced the concept of the third space in 1999 as a way “to describe the public spaces used for informal social interaction outside of the home and workplace” (Soukup, 2006, p421). These include cafés, churches, parks, hair salons, libraries and clubs.
Oldenburg (1999) describes some key features of third places, which are as follows:
- They are on neutral ground;
- They are a leveler;
- Conversation is the main activity;
- They are accessible;
- They have ‘regulars’;
- They have a low profile;
- They are a home away from home; and
- The mood is playful.
It can be seen that most of these characteristics are represented within the CMC of the Pokémon Go community, as well as within the gameplay itself.
- Neutral ground
Steinkuehler and Williams (2006, p890) identify games as being “neutral grounds in the sense that there is no default obligation to play”. Unless a player enters into a legal, financial or otherwise agreement (such as in e-sports, an activity not typically linked to casual games such as Pokémon Go) they can start up and quit the game, or leave the community space, as they please. - Leveler
As is the case in the vast majority of games, all players of Pokémon Go, regardless of social or financial status, previous Pokémon playing experience, start the game on an equal level. An initial player has no Pokémon, no in-game currency and they begin at level 1. - Conversation
Players talk to each other through such mediums as online grassroots network The Silph Road (Geraghty, 2017) as well as other platforms such as Facebook, Discord and Reddit. The entire purpose of these platforms is to share conversation with other users. - Accessibility
Virtual communities such as those mediated by Discord, Facebook or Reddit are perpetually accessible, given their online nature. They are accessible directly via one’s home, or on the go via a mobile device or laptop and Internet. The game itself is also playable at any time, and players can go geographically almost anywhere with it. - Regulars
Whilst the game was very popular when it initially came out, and has gained over 750 million downloads (Carter, 2017) in its first year, users began to report a lack of game content and buggy servers. Despite this, nearly two years later as Geraghty (2017) says, it has retained a ‘surprisingly loyal fanbase’ of about 60 million players. A lot of these players participate in forums such as The Silph Road, Reddit or local Facebook groups, and no doubt form a core group of ‘regulars’ that frequently enjoy playing the game with each other. - Low profile
While Pokémon Go might have a bright, colourful and sometimes intense game design, and not fit the low profile criterion visually, the social function of its environment does. The social atmospheres are informal and without pretension, and are not mediated by any kind of official Pokémon organisation. - Home away from home
Trepte, Reinecke and Juechems (2011) report finding “online gaming may result in strong social ties, if gamers engage in online activities that continue beyond the game and extend these with offline activities”. This is definitely true of a game such as Pokémon Go, with its offline activities (such as hunting for Pokémon or battling gyms together) extending from the interactions that happen online (for example, planning such activities). - Playful mood
In his seminal text Homo Ludens, the Dutch theorist Huizinga (1955) defines play as “a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious,’ but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly”. Pokémon Go and its communities fit neatly into this definition, with players discussing strategies, ideas and other relevant information within groups, whilst maintaining an understanding of friendliness and lightheartedness.
As demonstrated above, it can be seen that the Pokémon Go community’s computer-mediated communication can be classified as a third space. But what about its offline communication, and the way players come together when there is nothing virtual except the game itself, played on mobile devices? Sessions (2010, p376) defines a ‘meetup’ as “local, face-to-face gatherings of online community members”. This definition fits Pokémon Go communities well, as they are indeed local due to the geographic element of the game (and players in different suburbs or cities might organize their own personal meetups based on the geographic placement of its community members). Her study shed light on the social implications of virtual community meetups. She notes, “It should not be assumed that meetups are beneficial to the community … in these cases, such communities may lose the benefit of weak ties, and the exchange of resources with weak social ties may be sacrificed” (Sessions, 2010, p376). These weak ties are essential to such a community because they provide diversity to the players. In addition, Constant, Sproull & Kiesler (1996) found that weak ties are essential because information providers gave advice and solved the problems of information seekers, “despite their lack of a personal connection with the seekers”. This technical advice is reflective of the way that players most often interact in forums and groups online, seeking advice and ideas from other players such as where there is an abundance of a certain Pokémon, or if anyone else is experiencing a specific glitch in the game. However, Sessions (2010) goes on to suggest that ‘multiplex’ relationships – which are relationships that are maintained both online and offline – make attendees of such meetups engage more with the online community as a whole, and contributes to creating social capital. Additionally, Trepte, Reinecke and Juechems (2011) suggest “beneficial effects of online gaming on online social capital and offline social support are particularly likely the more users interact both in online and offline settings”. So, whilst not with abandon, players should (and do) continue to ‘meetup’ in offline settings, hunting for Pokémon and battling gyms together.
Pokémon Go also has an effect on the wider community. As Perry (2016) wrote for Business Insider, “The other night, I put down a lure module on a PokéStop (which lures more Pokémon to the stop) in the park across from my apartment. At 10 p.m., with a slight drizzle coming down, several people showed up within minutes.” This is representative of the type of community engagement and spirit that people were playing the game with. Kagi (2017) reported that a visitation to King’s Park, a popular park in Perth, Western Australia, improved 12.5% on the previous year and was the highest visitation on record. This was largely due to the Pokémon Go craze, and players flocked to concentrated areas after rare Pokémon became available in the area. This ‘offline’ use of a digital game reflects the strength of the in-game community.
It can also bring isolated people together, and bring them into the community. One such health phenomenon that Pokémon Go could address is that of the condition hikikomori, of Japan – a severe social withdrawal documented amongst teenagers and adults who experience fear, anxiety and a sense of refusal (Tateno, Park, Kato, Umene-Nakano & Saito, 2012). Individuals who experience hikikomori become recluses in their own homes or rooms. This is almost directly correlated with the availability of the Internet and a growing incidence of Internet addiction. However, with the release of Pokémon Go, there are reports of gamers becoming less sedentary and having improvements in depression and anxiety through physical activity (McCartney, 2016). Tateno et al. (2016) indicate that for some cases of hikikomori, Pokémon Go could provide a rehabilitation opportunity, and suggest placing PokéStops at hikikomori support centres to serve as an adjunct to other psychiatric interventions. This is just one example of how gamification of a community resource could provide advances in care.
There is an ever-increasing amount of discourse about whether or not video games have a positive or negative impact on people’s social lives. Pokémon Go is absolutely beneficial to players for health reasons, due to them getting outside and moving about while playing the game, but it is also beneficial for their social experience as well. As Kaczmarek et al. (2017) found in their study, “Pokémon Go also provides an opportunity for players to interact face-to-face with each other and socialize, which has emerged as a social factor that has been related to greater engagement in games”. The successful gamification of activity brought on by Pokémon Go has allowed people to join strong and welcoming communities they would not otherwise have known existed. Within the community everyone has at least one shared interest – their interest in Pokémon Go – and because of this their social capital is increased. Once social capital has been established amongst the virtual community, it then spills over into offline social capital, as members begin to meet up and play the game together. Gross, Katz and Rice (2003) state that the attributes of a virtual gaming community “have many advantages over physical communities, such as successfully breaking down boundaries of race, gender, ethnicity, and geographic location established in physical communities.” Players talk to each other from across the world as well as locally, creating communities virtually and then taking them offline. As Soukup (2006) states, “the virtual third place should feel like a place that is integrated seamlessly into the existing textures and details of our lived communal experiences.” The communication that occurs in the community spaces takes place in oft-used digital spaces such as social media, further cementing the game and its community as a third space.
References
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
In Our Control: Games and Online Communities
In Our Control: Online Games and Communities
Sebastian Powell
Abstract
This paper sets out to discuss how online games fit in to the community mix, and also how much of an important role the Internet plays in facilitating the majority of communities. All the Internet has done is provided a place for all of the communities to come together from all over the world, sharing common experiences, talking to each other and expanding the potential reach of the community tenfold. Through the analysis of several different online games and how they directly relate to formation of online communities.
Introduction
Ever since the arrival of the Internet one argument has filled the airspace over the years. Has our generation- the millennials forgotten how to communicate with each other because of this highly digitized world we have grown up in? Many academics and parents alike believe that our generation is worse off because of our so-called obsession with the Web. But I will in fact argue that online millennials have had a positive effect on many facets of the Internet, and have only strengthened ties of existing communities. The Internet acts as a facilitator for many online happenings, particularly online games and the plethora of communities and sub communities that arise in these games. The most important thing, in the existence of a community is communication (Koivisto, 2003), with this I argue that many games, even including some major AAA single-player games have avenues in which communities can flourish on the Internet. I will also put forward how certain game mechanics in specific games encourage communication between strangers and friends alike, creating the argument that if the most important thing about a community truly is communication, then online games have communities in spades.
How WoW built strong online communities
Think of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and it’s likely the first game that comes to mind is the famous — or infamous — World of Warcraft (WoW). With a player base of around 5.5 million in 2016 (Statista, 2016), it has created numerous communities and networks. Particularly I will be discussing what has made WoW such a popular MMORPG for so many years, and why it is so culturally entwined the gaming world. As Preece (cited in Koivisto, 2003) states, another key feature of a community is that it consists of likeminded people, interacting with each other while aiming to complete their own individual role. This is key in understanding why WoW is particularly popular and has maintained a strong community player base over many years. The mechanics of the game allows players inside the community to truly flourish with their own unique role that is assigned to them either naturally or assigned to them by the leader of the specific community.
Challenging stereotypes through casual gaming
Previously in academia talks it would be easy to dismiss online games as mere time wasting offering no real benefits to the various groups who play. However now due to the explosion of online gaming applications on their smart phone it is no longer relevant to stereotype gamers as old men who live in their Mum’s garage, because according to studies conducted in South Korea (Soo-Hyun, Hyun, Ji-Won, Jo-Eun, & Dai-Jin, 2017) thanks to the inclusion of the online games on the smart phone it is reported that 67.9% of the population aged 10 to 65 played online games of some description. In light of this, it is clear to see how individuals in a community environment such as WoW can really find a sense of belonging and achievement seldom seen in their life previously. So, while yes, it is true that “the dark side of excessive gaming is evident” (Soo-Hyun et al., 2015) it is undoubtedly clear that relationships not only form in these online communities but existing relationships between people can flourish and form into something truly meaningful for the individuals, which has been facilitated by online gaming platforms.
Communication within online games
When gaming online, communication can take place in a number of ways. These include chat systems, emotes as well as many more obscure ways to communicate. However, many people still play solo, yet the sense of community is omnipresent as certain aspects of the game heavily encourage player to player interaction, be it trading with another player, or activating certain emotes such as a wave or a dance. There is always communication going on between players even if it is non- verbal (Koivisto, 2003). So therefore, the game mechanisms always give players a chance to have some form of communication, and thus always facilitates the building of communities. A key concept in the idea of community is that of social capital. This refers to the idea of pre-existing weak social bonds in which some people involved feel inspired by others in the community (Trepte, Reinecke, & Juechems, 2012). This is highly relevant when discussing not only WoW but many other MMORPG’s also. The idea of games being able to both bridge and broaden social capital is influential and possibly telling as to why communities seem to flourish so well on platforms such as WoW. According to Trepte et al. (2012) bridging social capital refers to weaker existing relationships that enhance a members’ perspective, and is regardless of race, age or ethnicity. A younger person for example could be playing WoW and fall into one of these groups completely by accident, and thanks to the global village we live in, it could have members from all around the world, all with different backgrounds, beliefs and most importantly (for some) advanced levels of in game skill. All these elements that a young person could be exposed to benefits them in both the long and short term in terms of social skills and also enhancing their gaming ability.
The power of online games to be able to bring seemingly unrelated people around a common goal is truly powerful. It is also evident not only in MMORPG’s but in the single player game communities as well. Firstly, Koivisto (2003, p. 4) makes the emphatic statement that “limiting communication always hurts the community,” if this is indeed the case then what about the AAA single-player games that feature a huge player base? When the original Xbox was released side-by-side with a curious science fiction first person shooter (FPS) named Halo: Combat Evolved, no one could’ve truly predicted how well the two were going to be received, and with around 5 million copies sold to date it is clear to see how the game has become a cultural icon for many throughout their childhood and indeed into adulthood, also (Leeson, 2011). This game offered an immensely powerful and thoughtful single player campaign, as well as an ever-presently fun multiplayer department. In today’s gaming industry, it is a rarity for console players to find big budget games that satisfy both their story telling needs in the campaign, and their competitive needs in multiplayer. EA’s Star Wars Battlefront 2 and the plethora of criticism it faced upon release, particularly in terms of its half-finished single player campaign that the developers originally planned to finish later and add as downloadable content (DLC), is an example of this.
Communities surrounding online games
When gamers find a modern, high quality, single-player game, such as Wolfenstein: The New Order by Bethesda Studios (where players take control of an American soldier in an alternate reality narrative in which the Nazi’s have won World War 2 and are now culturally oppressive and technologically advanced), where do they go to satisfy their need to share their experience with other players? Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Reddit, Facebook and IGN to name a few. The communities created on these platforms allow technically ‘offline players’ to go online and share screenshots, ask questions and share hints and tips. The point is, just because the game itself doesn’t necessarily offer avenues of communication, the Internet and its different features alone allow communities to form and flourish, with the game Wolfenstein: The New Order simply acting as the catalyst for the community to form.
Modding communities
Secondly, particular games allow players in their single player community to create their own content and share it for other people to play. This is particularly relevant in Sid Meiers’ Civilisation VI, in this particular case I will discuss the main PC version of the game, and not the iOS version offered on the Apple App Store. This game is launched through the facilitating platform named Steam. As the title alludes, in Civilisation VI players take the helm of a historic civilisation on a random map and build the civilisation up through the ages, facing other civilisations along the way either going to war with them or finding diplomatic peace. Assuming that because an online game takes on average 5-8 hours according to Reddit user Camomilk, we will say that to best experience a match is to play against the built-in A.I, which would then categorise this game as a preferably single-player game. Steam offers a “workshop” section in which players such as myself who desire fun modifications that would otherwise never be seen to be released by developers, can go and download modifications made by other players in the Civilisation community. One notable example is a mod that allows players to take control of the Third Reich as Adolf Hitler, while it sounds admittedly grim the realism and enjoyment that players find in these mods enhance the game to another level. This ultimately links back to my original point, just because the players are technically playing solo, they are still communicating with each other and encouraging the user created content even further. As Koivisto (2003) states there are many other ways that players can communicate with each other, such as in-game emotes, character proximity or even certain actions can communicate a message. Therefore, the act of playing on a map or a game type that another user has created directly forms avenues for communities to be created. User created content is by no means unique to Civilisation VI, in fact another game named Far Cry 5 by Ubisoft studios employs the idea of user-created content on a massive scale. In their Arcade mode which is where the players go to escape the single player and jump into competitive multiplayer. It is particularly unique in the way that every single map that is offered to play has been created on the map creator by other players in the community. And while it has its shortcomings such as some very average and wacky maps, in general the maps are good enough to play. Which means the community on the Far Cry 5’s arcade is completely self-sufficient; the players create the maps and game types; the players then play and either like or dislike the map. Through user-created content it is clear to see how it is not just the standard form of communication that forms communities, there are a plethora of ways that players can talk either in game or on the Web through facilitating platforms.
Conclusion
As opposed to viewing the Internet as something that hinders our ability to communicate with each other, it should be seen as a tool for all kinds of communities to expand their existing notions of what a community is. The Internet gives everyone the rudimentary ability to communicate with each other, it doesn’t take it away. One needs only to look at the amount of Reddit users to see that the Internet is a communication platform, so to say that today’s generation is worse off because of how digitized we have become is simply plain wrong. And nowhere is this more evident than in the world of online gaming, there are always ways to communicate with people from literal conversations to more ambiguous signs and emotes. It is clear to see how if anything, community ties are stronger than they’ve ever been.
Camomilk. (2016, December 5). How long do multiplayer games take? [Blog comment]. Retrieved from https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/how-long-do-multiplayer-games-take.606766/.
Koivisto, E. (2003). Supporting Communities in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games by Game Design. Paper presented at the Digital Games Research Association Conference. http://www.digra.org/dl/db/05150.48442.pdf.
Leeson, D. M. (2011). Northrop frye and the story structure of the single-player shooter. English Studies in Canada, 37(2), 137-152. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/1024140325?accountid=10382
Soo-Hyun Paik, Cho, H., Ji-Won, C., Jo-Eun, J., & Dai-Jin, K. (2017). Gaming device usage patterns predict internet gaming disorder: Comparison across different gaming device usage patterns. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(12), 1512. http://dx.doi.org.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/10.3390/ijerph14121512 Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/1988593120?accountid=10382.
Trepte, S. Reinecke, L. and Juechems, K. (2012). The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support. Computers in Human Behaviour, 28. 832 – 839. DOI: 10.1016/jchb.2011.12.003.
Does Social Media encouraging women’s participation in politics in Mauritius?
Abstract
This paper consists of how social media are encouraging women to participate in politics nowadays in a country like Mauritius. The first point that will be analysed is what the author Bihel argued on how women has adopted the concept of participatory culture online in order to build a community which will enable them to make their campaign. Another important point that will be discussed in this paper is to show how women were portrayed before and to what extent our society meaning Mauritians society has now changed their perceptions on women. For example, long ago people were living with the kind of perceptions that Maria Zachs mentioned in her theory that women are considered as minority in today’s political society following the rule that the minority group is always inferior to the majority one. Now with the evolution of the internet,this hierarchical societal structure is disappearing to some extent.Many other theorists did agree with the fact that the internet nowadays is breaking these barriers and is allowing female politicians to express themselves , create their identity online and their interactions with the society. This paper’s main focus will be on the extent to which social media contribute to encourage women to participate in politics in Mauritius and to understand the influences that social networks have on both politicians and the society.
Introduction
Social Media is the collective of online communication channels related to community-based input, interaction, content- sharing and collaboration. Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking and so on ( Mascheroni et al. ,2015). These are online platforms where people are able to create their virtual identity which can be very different from the person’s real identity ( Mascheroni et al., 2015). Long ago, women were forbidden from the law to participate in politics because they were considered as uneducated and ‘inferior’ to the society. As the Turkish female politician Muhiddin claimed in order for women to assert their rightful places in social and political life “ we need to raise awareness then we need to educate” (Guler, 2014). Nowadays women in politics has in a certain way got that equal rights but, are they really equal to men in the parliamentary or is it a myth? Basically now women have dual burden meaning that they have more than one responsibilities- home and work. Also, now they can be part in the parliamentary if ever they have knowledge in politics especially in a developing country like Mauritius which is well-known for its diversity of culture. What have encouraged them to participate in politics is the fact of being able to talk and share opinions online ( Yarchi et al., 2018). Indeed, according to Bihel et al. these platforms have helped in breaking these barriers and stereotypes being put on them as a ‘woman’. But since now, have social media really helped in breaking these barriers and stereotypes put on female politicians?
Since 2012, Mauritius has passed under a law which was implemented by the local government to state that at least one third of the candidates who run the local elections have to be of a different gender (Bihel et al., 2016). Basically this statement made by the author Zachs, has clearly mentioned that even women have now the right to participate in politics but they are still considered as the ‘minority’ since it must be at least ‘one third’ which mean that women would not be the majority one to control the parliamentary. For example, during the fight of the Turkish female politician Muhiddin to allow women to participate in politics in 1940s, only five percent of women were allowed to access the Parliament (Guler, 2014). Whereas since the existence of the social media, women are now able to create themselves an online identity and make them known by the public. Meanwhile, female politicians seized this opportunity to make campaigns online ( Eckert, 2014). For example during the presidential election in US, one of the female candidate, Mrs Hillary Clinton has paid Twitter to inject Hashtag as top trend. Why has she done this? It’s because she knows very well the importance of getting a hashtag in her name so that the media can cover the fact that she is the ‘favorite’ and that she’s going to win the election which is considered as a constructed fact ( Yarchi et al.,2018). Likely, here in Mauritius a recent by-election has taken place at the region of Quatre-Bornes. Tania Diolle a female candidate from the party ‘ Mouvement Patriotique’ has used Facebook to make her campaign. In her videos she is portraying herself as the ‘perfect elite’ that could represent this region in the Parliament. She is creating both an identity and a community on the social networks through her videos, photos, etc (Bihel et al.,2016). But are everything that she is being portrayed online are true?
Hashtags portraying Hillary Clinton as the top trend.
Moreover, according to Bihel et al. Mauritius is considered as a role model of Africa by being the first stable democracy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This paradise island has also broken a big barrier by giving the title of first female president in Africa to Mrs Ameena Gurib Fakim. Mauritius is considered as a rainbow nation due to its cultural diversity but even though our culture did not allow us to give such an opportunity to a woman as our culture still considered women as being ‘inferior’ so much like Guler mentioned in his theory on Turkish female politicians that “the representation of women in political and decision-making bodies has been relatively low”. Even of having a female President or a Prime Minister, the majority will always be men in the Parliament. While the ex Prime Minister Sir Aneerood Jugnauth has announced the nomination of Mrs Fakim, many were not agreed with the fact to be directed by a female President because she was a ‘woman’ and for Mauritian culture women are ‘incompetent’ and cannot ‘be good enough to manage the post of a president’ ( Bihel et al., 2016). But on social media such as Facebook there were lots of online posts from women, girls even men who wanted her as president in order to eliminate these stereotypes put on Mauritian women. People already knew that Mrs Ameena Gurib Fakim is an educated women and a well- known science lecturer at the University of Mauritius where those youngsters from this particular institution were giving their full support by giving good feedbacks on her as a lecturer. However, there were also those posting ‘sexists’ comments on her. As the author Eckert et al. claimed “women will tap into the haphazard democratic potential of social media”. Also, the local government has voted to get a female speaker who is Maya Hanoomanjee well known for her favorite sentence “ I order you out”. Many have created funny YouTube videos to mock the way she managed the parliamentary. But even though she is the one controlling the parliament where the majority are men. This represent an increase in political representation of women presenting a hopeful picture (Guler, 2014). However, tags of being a ‘funny’ speaker have been put on her because once again she is a ‘woman’. So much of sarcastic videos have never been made on the Speaker before. But still, even if social media is used to make these female politicians to lose their identity online, they persevere in proving that they can be much more competent than male when it concerns politics (Mascheroni et al., 2015).
Furthermore, long ago there existed many places which were called the public sphere where people were united to talk about politics issues, doing some protests and so on (Yarchi et al.,2018).“By the ‘public sphere’ we mean first of all a realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed…” (Eckert et al.,2014). Women, in fact had not the right to participate in these spheres because during this era, the place of women were at home ( Eckert et al., 2014). So only men have got the right to participate in these type of discussions. Nowadays with the evolution of the Web 2.0 which have enable people to create a community online in order to share a specific point of view, giving their opinions or liking their favorite political figure or party (Eckert et al., 2014). This has become the new public sphere where people even women are now able to participate by commenting, sharing posts, writing statuses, blogging and so on. As the author Yarchi et al. claimed “social media could provide a more supportive environment for women compared to men as women are much more likely than men to respond to public messages and to like contents” (Yarchi et al., 2018). Also, in Mauritius there is a lot of women who have complete interest with politics (Yarchi et al.,2018). The new media have allowed this particular group to show their interest to political issues happening such as in 2010 during the election campaign Navin Ramgoolam the leader of the labour party has insulted a female candidate from his own party called Nita Deerpalsingh. He insulted her live on the radio. This has created a chaos where the population itself were so furious against a person that they were going to vote and who were supposed to represent the role model of the society and maybe that could be the reason why this party had lost the election at that time. It is a way to show how women in politics are treated in this party. So, people especially women did not want to get such a Prime Minister to lead the country. Social media such as Facebook had burst out with comments and posts which have pushed the leader of the labour party to apologise in front of the whole population in order to regain the trust of the population. This to show the extent of power that social media which is considered as the public sphere has onto a country nowadays (Bihel et al.,2016).
Nevertheless, social media does not always encourage women to participate in politics as it is a platform that can destroy your reputation as a public figure as well (Mascheroni et al., 2015).It is a platform where women can create an identity so that people can trust them (Mascheroni et al., 2015). So, in other words when you are a female politician you have to know how to keep your image high and how to encourage people to follow you on social media. It’s by proposing new and interesting subjects. For example Mrs Nandanee Sournack, who was a well-known business woman in Mauritius have had an affair with the leader of the labour party Mr Navin Ramgoolam who was the actual Prime Minister at that time. They were both attending a private party when the local media has taken a photo of them dancing and enjoying together. It was a ‘private party’ since she was with the Prime Minister, this has become a media coverage issue because he was not with his wife. Since that day, Mrs Nandanee Sournack has been victim of lots of insults because for the society she was the one who was the culprit because she was supposed to control herself as she is the ‘woman’. People have used social media to express themselves concerning this issue and this have affected her so much that she chose to leave Mauritius (Bihel et al., 2014). Also, according to Eckert et al. “blog is a space where they can add perspectives that have been neglected or are missing in established (news) media and societal debate” (Eckert et al. , 2014). Sometimes politicians tend to hide some kind of information which can be against them but bloggers reveal those kind of subjects online. It is through this that the public know what is really happening throughout their country. For example recently a deputy has promised a woman to give her a job only if she accepts to have an affair with him.
To conclude it can be said that social networks have contributed as a great plus in both the emancipation of women and to promote gender equality especially in developing countries such as Mauritius. Mauritius, a country very well known for its cultural diversity as mentioned above is a place where people still considered women as ‘inferior’. But still Mauritius has overcome these barriers to prove that equality exists. It’s by giving the opportunity to women to integrate the Parliament which have in a way encouraging other women to move forward as they know that they have the support of these female politicians. Social media has encouraged women more in the sense that they are able to participate and to form part in any kind of topics and these platforms have made them realised that they are supported by lots of associations, feminists and so on which made them more stronger and allow them to form part of these online communities.
Does social media empower women who breastfeed or does it simply reinforce dominant ideologies and stereotypes that exist within society?
Abstract
The sharing of breastfeeding images, commonly referred to as ‘brelfies’, on social media is becoming increasingly commonplace in today’s society as mothers actively engage with and participate in the online environment. Such platforms afford users various opportunities to belong and participate in online communities. Breastfeeding communities are increasingly common; many women and mothers belong to such communities who are involved in the active promotion of breastfeeding with the aim of de-stigmatising the practice whilst also empowering women who breastfeed. However, this paper will demonstrate that this is not necessarily achieved in practice. Rather, such communities are marred by various dominant ideologies that exist within society and serve to reproduce and legitimise such ideologies. In particular, the capitalist and consumerist ideology seem to be at play in the virtual breastfeeding communities on Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, these communities often advance and popularise certain beauty ideals placing pressure on mothers to conform to such ideals.
Introduction
Digital technologies and “the smartphone revolution” influences and impacts significantly on daily life (Johnson, 2014, para. 1). The ubiquitous nature of social media has changed various aspects of daily life from the way we communicate and interact with others to the way we interact with the world in general. As observed by Tomfohrde and Reinke (2016), computational and digital technologies have become “increasingly salient in our culture” (p. 556) forming a vital part of our lives. Social Networking Sites (SNS) and mobile applications offer users a plethora of opportunities to create and belong to a virtual community whilst also facilitating the creation of social movements.
As Economos et al. (2009) state, a social movement is “collective action” on a continuous basis to “promote or resist change” within society (p. 40). Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram which are “widely used among many demographic groups” including parents (Tomfohrde and Reinke, 2016, p. 556). As Ibrahim (2010) identifies, in the context of breastfeeding, such platforms are occupied by supporters and activists who wish to promote breastfeeding and fight for women’s rights to breastfeed in public places (p. 17). Furthermore, such technologies are transforming the way motherhood is viewed and practiced within society. Indeed, Johnson (2014) observes that social media and apps serve to “organise parenting practice” and offer users potentially “new experiences” of motherhood (p. 331). Breastfeeding communities on social media platforms Facebook and Instagram allow mothers to share content and to be part of a community with common beliefs and values; such platforms, centered around the notion of online communities, have expanded the “social support networks” that parents have access to (p. 342). In such communities, the main aim appears to be the de-stigmatisation of breastfeeding within society through the promotion of breastfeeding content and practices on such platforms.
Various researchers have studied parents’ use of social media, more specifically social media behaviours of mothers. The large majority of research on the subject seems to conclude that the practice of sharing breastfeeding selfies in an online environment is empowering for women and allows them to participate and feel a sense of solidarity and belonging in a virtual community. However, an analysis of existing literature and examples from Facebook and Instagram reveal that such studies overlook the fact that the widespread sharing of ‘brelfies’ serves to reinforce stereotypes that exist within society as well as dominant ideologies, namely stereotypes of mothers and women and the ideologies of patriarchy, capitalism and consumerism.
Social Media and breastfeeding
Social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are perhaps the most widely used social networking sites (SNS) in contemporary society. Facebook is a platform that can be accessed both via the Facebook application or the mobile site (Johnson, 2014,p. 342). The “high-traffic” platform has numerous uses including the sharing and dissemination of content, “social connection”, opportunities to join interest groups with shared interests as well as “people watching and social surveillance” (p. 342). As noted by Statista (as cited in Tomfohrde and Reinke, 2016), a significant proportion of the 2 billion Facebook users are of “childbearing and childrearing age”, aged between 18-44 (p. 557). Facebook has thousands of pages devoted to breastfeeding communities and breastfeeding practices in general.
Similarly to Facebook, Instagram is a social media platform and a mobile application which allows users to take and modify photographs, through the use of filters, and allows them to share these photographs and short segments of video content to it’s site (Zappavinga, 2016, p. 271). Instagram is the most popular photo sharing platform with over “600 million users worldwide” as of December 2016 (Locatelli, 2017, p. 2). Characteristic Instagram practices include the sharing of ‘selfies’, “digital self-portraits” that serves to communicate a message or simply as a “representation of something” (p. 2). Lim (2016) views selfies as the “cultural marker of the current generation” stating its popularity not only amongst public figures such as politicians and celebrities but also amongst the general public (p. 1774). He notes that selfies represent “an avenue for self-expression” (p. 1774), “social feedback” and “social calibration” (p. 1775).
Selfies depicting breastfeeding on Facebook and Instagram are labelled as “brelfies” obviously by fusing breastfeeding and selfies (p. 4). By sharing breastfeeding selfies, social media users “construct their identities and simultaneously express their belonging” to the breastfeeding community (Locatelli, 2017, p. 2).
Figure 1: Breastfeeding selfie, commonly referred to as ‘brelfie’ on Instagram
‘Brelfies’, Social Media and Society
According to Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz (2015) images have a central function in how we experience, understand and shape the world (p.79). The notion and the concept of the body “are socially constructed” (Featherstone, as cited in Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz, p. 81) and defined by cultural and social beliefs, norms and values (Crisp, as cited in Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz, 2015, p. 81). Therefore, it could be argued that the various ideologies that exist with larger society also impact on the notion of the body. For instance, Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz (2015) elaborate on Featherstone’s (as cited in Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz, 2015, p. 81) theory of consumerism to conclude that the “consumerist culture makes us all responsible for our body” leading to the commodification of the female body by emphasising the perfect beauty ideal and stressing the importance of the body as a form of social and cultural capital (p. 81).
Within the digital media landscape, Lasen and Gomez-Cruz (2009) argue that selfies and self-portraits are re-shaping the “knowing of the self” and “relation to our own body” (p. 206). They state that the three important aspects to selfies; representation, “presentation and embodiment” of the self do not simply represent and existing entity but rather they contribute to the “configuration and transfiguration of bodies and selves” (p. 213). Images depicting breastfeeding on social media form part of the ‘’visual economy” and impact on users who belong to the breastfeeding community whilst also communicating the cultural and social elements of society (p.79). The “contemporary visual economy” remains ageist and “heteronormative” leading women to “feel inadequate and dissatisfied with themselves” (p. 79). Furthermore, the modern visual culture is overtly “sexualised” and “pornified” (p. 79). Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz (2015) acknowledge the relationship between bodies and sexuality stating that “bodies are intertwined with sexuality” (p. 79) and as Boon and Pentney (as cited in Locatelli, 2017) argue, the boundaries between motherhood and sexuality are troubled; “breasts disrupt conventional understandings of public and private, self and other, subject and object” (p. 2). Asides from the sexualised and pornified views of women’s bodies, Johnson (2014) highlights how women’s bodies are traditionally viewed as “leaky, uncontrollable, open and permeable” (p. 343).
Brelfies, Celebrities and Commodification
According to Marwick and boyd (2011), the internet, Web 2.0 and its social media affordances has changed celebrity culture from a “highly controlled and regulated institutional model” (p. 139) to a ‘culture’ and practice that can be performed and accessed by anyone with access to the internet and social media (p. 140). “Networked media” which involves blogs, fan sites, social media sites and gossip websites have created opportunities for “the circulation and creation of celebrities” (p. 40). Celebrity, a status given to a “famous” person is a complex social and “cultural construct” characterised by “performative practice” (p. 140). Celebrity culture involves the “construction of a consumable persona”, “performed intimacy” and authenticity (p. 140). Individuals who are classified as ‘celebrity’ can be equated to a “commodity” of media industries (p. 140); celebrity culture serves the interests of the media, an institution of power within society. Indeed, Turner (as cited in Marwick and boyd, 2011) defines celebrity as “a process by which a person is turned into a commodity” (p. 140).
Analysing the practices of public figures and celebrities on social media platform Twitter, Marwick and boyd (2011) conclude that such practices serve to reinforce and legitimise “unequal power differentials” (p. 144). Performing and maintaining celebrity status is dependent on fans, followers and ‘non-celebrities’ recognising the “asymmetrical status” and the “imbalance between practitioner and fan” (p. 144). The power structure is maintained by intimacy practices including the sharing of personal images (p. 148) to create a sense of “familiarity” (p. 147) between the celebrity and fans as well as through the process of affiliation. Affiliation is the “process of publicly performing a connection” with fans through the use of cultural symbols, norms and conventions and language (p. 147). Marwick and boyd’s (2011) conclusions suggest that celebrity practices of sharing ‘brelfies’ is reduced to a “co-performance” (p. 155) to maintain the existing hierarchy and power structure. By sharing photographs and images of breastfeeding, celebrities engage in familiarity and affiliation practices to connect with fans who belong to the breastfeeding community. Consequently, such “co-performances” (p. 155) reinforce the power disparity as “fans show deference” (p. 144) therefore reproducing the power imbalance between celebrities and them.
Celebrity Alyssa Milano shares a ‘brelfie’ on Instagram
Indeed, Duvall (2015) remarks how celebrity images depicting breastfeeding are reliant upon and reinforce stereotypical beauty ideals and notions of what constitutes ideal motherhood behaviours and practices. In mainstream and traditional media celebrity breasts are represented as central to the female sexuality intended to be consumed by audiences as “sexualised objects of desire” (p. 324).
Duvall (2015) argues that media discourses surrounding celebrity maternity and motherhood “police boundaries of ideal beauty and motherhood” (p. 327). Photographs and selfies of celebrities revolving around motherhood reinforce ideal and normalised beauty ideals as they are often edited or manipulated with perfect lighting and dominant representations of glamour (p. 327). Similarly, Ibrahim (2010) observes that images shared by celebrity mothers which are staged, “manipulated and distorted” complicate the “existing relationship between reality and representation” (p. 20). The traditional female maternal body is replaced by portrayals and representations of hyper-commodified, unrealistic and unattainable representations of the body (p. 328). This leads to the “policing” of the “celebrity breastfeeding body” which is “reprimanded, sexualised and commodified for global consumption” (p. 327). Furthermore, it highlights the double standard underscoring celebrity motherhood practices and media portrayals; Duvall (2015) advocates that “celebrity breastfeeding both disrupts and normalises existing taboos particularly because the “famous body” is a political vehicle used primarily for the dissemination of ideologies about sexuality, race, gender and class (Redmond, as cited in Holmes and Redmond, 2006, p. 124).
Celebrity Jessie James Decker breastfeeding her infant
The image of Jessie James Decker, a ‘brelfie’ posted on her Instagram account depicts the celebrity mother breastfeeding her infant. The image features both mother and baby laying down and both mother and baby are featured in perfect lighting. Moreover, the mother is dressed in white and is adorned by jewellery while she strikes a pose and stares into the camera rather than at her infant. The composition of this image appears to have been “painstakingly prepared” (Locatelli, 2017, p. 6) with the mother being represented as meticulous and posed. It could be argued that the pose adopted by the mother directs viewers attention towards the mother; the pose adopted by Jessie James Decker could be classified as one contrived to the male gaze and for male consumption and therefore undermines the practice of breastfeeding since the focus seems to be on her beauty. This serves to reinforce idealised images of breastfeeding as a natural practice associating breastfeeding with the notions of “nature, purity” (Locatelli, 2017,p. 6) and beauty. Moreover, it also serves to legitimise existing beauty ideals that dictate that females should be beautiful despite the stresses and burdens of motherhood. Duvall (2015) argues that such images such images reinforce the “unattainable standard” of the “super-working, super-mummy” who has the perfect balance both in her professional and domestic life whilst also conforming to the hegemonic beauty standards (para. 6). It could thus be argued celebrity breastfeeding photographs are merely political vehicles that serve the interests of ideologies such as consumerism and capitalism in the interest of maintaining the status quo and power order in society.
Brelfies and non-celebrity mothers
Stearns (1999) observes how breastfeeding, “a visual performance of mothering” places the “maternal body at centre stage” and “symbolises good mothering” (p. 309). The performance and practice of breastfeeding are “complicated by conflicting cultural beliefs” regarding women’s breasts (p. 309). Within Western societies, female breasts represent femininity and heterosexuality (p. 310). This poses a problem for “breastfeeding women and their maternal bodies” (p. 310). Furthermore, within Western societies there is a “strong cultural preference for sexualised breasts” (p. 309). This places pressure on mothers to negotiate their breastfeeding practices, although it is a natural and nurturing practice to suit the dominant and patriarchal view commonly held in society that breasts are “exclusively for the other” (p. 323). As Boon and Pentney (2015) observe, breastfeeding selfies can be both a “personal gesture” and or a “political act” (p. 1768); they represent an “ambiguous space” that reinforces “rather than undermine the status quo” since they can “re-inscribe cisgender and heteronormative frameworks” (p. 1768). Furthermore, breastfeeding selfies can be “risky” exposing nursing mums to “criticism, online harassment, or the co-opting of images for unsavory purposes” such as porn sites (p. 1760).
Conclusions
Considering the limited amount of research available regarding breastfeeding and technology, conclusions offered fail to provide an accurate and reliable account of the relationship between breastfeeding, social media and society. While the majority of existing literature seems to unfold around the ‘benefits’ of social media for breastfeeding mothers giving them a sense of belonging to a community and as a form of empowerment, it is evident that there are several underscoring mechanisms at play within the discourse. An analysis of celebrity breastfeeding practices reveals the underlying ideologies surrounding motherhood whilst also highlighting inequality within the social structures of society. Furthermore, the breastfeeding celebrity body reduces motherhood to a politicised, romanticised, sexualised and glamorised practice thus undermining the potential of ‘brelfies’ a significant social movement, a form of activism or as a vehicle for social change.
In relation to mothers who do not have celebrity status, it is evident that breastfeeding content has to be clearly negotiated; mothers are pressured to conform to societal beliefs of what constitutes good mothering practices whilst also pressurised to negotiate ‘brelfies’ so that they are not viewed as sexualised. It could thus be argued that rather than acting as a vehicle for social change, virtual breastfeeding communities simply create an illusion of empowerment for users. Rather, women who belong to such communities are faced with various challenges and are coerced and exploited to negotiate their breastfeeding practices.
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The Community Behind a Game (Overwatch)
Abstract: Gaming communities often show a fair amount of information in regards to the game the community participates in. When looking at the game Overwatch it can be seen that the community goes beyond what film, television or comic book communities tend to show. With gaming being an experience that is different for each person, gaming communities tend to grow, and here I look at the Overwatch community and why the community shows how successful the game is. With championships being held all across the world, fan culture taking off in every direction and pop culture conventions becoming more and more filled with Overwatch fans, it is no wonder that the game is successful, and with the game being a competitive online multiplayer first-person shooter, the players are what make this game successful as it is built to be played in this way, rather than a story a player may experience, it is more of a team sport, and that sport cannot be played without a team.
Keywords: Overwatch, community, gaming, online gaming, competitive online game, first-person shooter, experience, pop culture, world cup
I argue that without a community, competitive online games would not be successful. Competitive online games that are played across the internet and require other online players in order to work, such as Overwatch, Dota, and League of Legends, need a community in order to work. Those who play these games and participate as part of a team online are a community of players, if these players did not exist, no one would be playing the game, therefore there would be no success. As I discuss the success of the game Overwatch, I am looking at the number of people who play the game, the number of downloads or purchases of the game, purchases in-game and purchases outside of the game (i.e. merchandise), as well as how players bring elements of this game offline with them, these elements show a form of success when it comes to competitive online games. Looking directly at Overwatch as my case study, I will be discussing this type of success and how it applies to this online game. Overwatch is a team-based online first-person shooter game which was released early 2016 by the company Blizzard Entertainment. Players are put into a team of six in order to verse another team, and the players chose who they play as from over 20 different characters who have their own unique style and ability. These characters are what draws players into a first-person shooter game such as this in a competitive online atmosphere. Most players will find a character they relate to or a style they quite enjoy which makes them want to play the game further and become invested in winning with that character. To further illustrate my argument I will be drawing on Frostling-Henningsson’s “First-Person shooter games as a way of connecting to people: “Brothers in blood”, Domahidi, Festl, and Quandt’s “To dwell among gamers: Investigating the relationship between social online game use and gaming-related friendships”, and Kim, Lee, Thomas and Dombrowski’s “Storytelling in new media: the case of alternate reality games, 2001-2009”. My argument will be located online, looking at the Overwatch game and within Australia. In order to argue that these communities are needed in the online gaming sphere, I will discuss three main subjects; these are namely the Overwatch World Cup, the fan community that comes with online games, and how gaming has evolved at pop culture conventions.
The Overwatch World Cup is a clear example of a community which creates a successful online game. The Overwatch World Cup was a massive online event played by thirty-two countries, including Australia. Each country hosted an event and champions from that country would verse each other to try and win the world cup, which included not only the title but also money. This event held thousands of people who watched these competitors in real life, filling up an entire arena with spectators, as players physically sat in an arena with their team, playing other teams across the world online, demonstrating how big the Overwatch community truly is. With so many people going to a physical event to support players representing their country, many could liken this to a sporting event. Many sporting games have a community surrounding them, dressing up in the colours of their favourite sports team in order to show their support, and cheering on that team in a sports arena. The Overwatch World Cup shows that this can also be applied to competitive online games, as only six people in the arena for this championship are competing, thousands of supporters surround them in Australian colours or in colours that support a character on of the players is competing as. This is a community of gamers who get to experience something from this game no matter how they are a part of it, from playing to supporting, “gaming is a feeling” (Frostling-Henningsson, 2009 p.559) and this community definitely shows that. Frostling-Henningsson (2009 p.559) further discusses how games such as this are so popular that due to the gaming being seen as “beyond both reading and watching a movie” as it is “something more complete” and The Overwatch World Cup showcases that many of this same idea. As gaming is viewed as a feeling, and an experience which many can share but not everyone will have the same experience, the Overwatch World Cup provides the audience with a completely different experience from playing at home. The players in this World Cup would be experiencing a game with top players from all around the world which would be unlikely to occur as they played online at home, and those who are physically sitting in the arena watching it happen, are experiencing something far different from a film or a book. When supporters watch their favourite team play, they are watching with hundreds and even thousands of other supporters of the same team, creating connections based off of an interest that they share, and it connects these people together very quickly, beyond an everyday basis of meeting. The Overwatch World Cup was one of the largest gaming championships to do this for an online community, bringing them into the real world together, creating that experience that supporters usually have at a football or soccer game. When looking at this, the community online is far larger than just one arena in Australia. Blizzard Entertainment set up an arena such as the one I described, for every country participating, and thousands of supporters bought tickets in order to sit in an arena, next to other supporters of their country watching this occur. Yet, there are so many people who support Overwatch that were not able to physically support their team for the World Cup, leading them to watch the championships online, much like how a football supporter who cannot make it to a game would watch their team on television. If this many people were not playing this game and were not actively showing support for Overwatch, there would be no reason to hold The Overwatch Championships, as no one would show up or play. Due to the support from players at home Blizzard Entertainment wanted to take this a step further with an official game that would rank the players all across the world, and showcase how successful the game really is, as all of the people who turned up to watch or tuned in online knew exactly what was occurring in this event. If there were no community, a game such as Overwatch would not have as much of an appeal.
The Overwatch World Cup shows how the Overwatch community together in unity, but as previously stated, not everyone can appear at an event such as this in order to show their support, so they support the game online within the fan community, showcasing their support for the game with their own creations. Even in everyday occurrences, the community that surrounds Overwatch promotes the game through their own fan art, writing, merchandising and fan culture. Recently, a new character was released as part of the Overwatch update for their game. The character Brigette was announced a early 2018 and fans of Overwatch celebrated by participating in fan culture that showcased the new character. The Overwatch community embraced what was new and started to make it their own. Many fans came up with their own storyline for Brigette, they created fan art that showcased the appearance given to her as well as created different looks or situations that she could possibly be a part of. Those who are frequent cosplayers (costume play) and are a part of the Overwatch community, started creating their own costumes for Brigette, showcasing how they support this community. No matter the age of the player or how long they have been a part of the Overwatch community, each player shows how they are a part of this community in different ways. They show their support by creating fan art of new characters, or writing fan fiction about the character they have played as since they first bought the game, others will critique what is new about the game, and compare what they originally liked about it as well as adding suggestions for the future through online forums, but each show a support of some kind, even just playing the game itself or purchasing items within the game shows support of the game. The build-up of this support creates a community and the way in which majority of people will see this community is from the outside, through the participation in fan culture that many of this community is a part of. Domahidi, Festl, and Quandt (2014, p.108) state that “online gamers are thought to be particularly vulnerable to this offering social capital because they might focus on exclusively online friendships and thus might be affected by reduced psychosocial well-being” in their discussion about there perception of friendship and the online gaming world. As previously stated, community is mainly seen from the outside, when looking at a football game others can see the community surrounding that by the amount of people walking down the street wearing shirts that represent their favourite team, or perhaps they have a hat or other item of clothing that suggest they are in favour of this team. People in this community choose to represent it within their outward appearance. This is the same with Overwatch as some may buy official merchandise that represents their favourite character from this game, or just something that supports the Overwatch logo, however when it comes to games that have a big fan following, most of the items supporters purchase are from other fans in the community. Fans tend to support other fans within the gaming community that they are a part of, which can also be seen with films and books, where a fan has created a digital art print or a shirt of their own making, and other fans support them and that game, film or book by purchasing that item. In the Overwatch community this can be seen, even with a brand new character, fans will support each other in what they create in this community and the interests they have within the game, showing support that can also be taken into the physical world as they use fashion in order to make a statement about the community they are a part of. Domahidi, Festl, and Quandt (2014, p.108) go on to further discuss that “heavy users tend to have more friends, both online and offline” due to the participation within a community of gaming. Without this heavy participation within the game and some participation within the community outside of the game, these friendships would be different, which is why Domahidi, Festl, and Quandt (2014) specifically refer to “heavy users” in this discussion. These users tend to open up a discussion about the game, due to the achievements they have within the game they are playing, how they actively participate in forums outside of the game, and their participation in fan culture surrounding the game. In Overwatch, there are many players like this, which is shown in The Overwatch World Cup, in the online community and even at pop culture conventions, as they are a key part of the community that surrounds Overwatch.
The participation in fan culture is shown in multitudes online and in the physical world, which we can see through pop culture conventions such as Supanova and Madfest in Australia, which are not only home to film and television fanatics but the gaming community as well. These conventions show how big fan communities really are and as this progresses, conventions continue to cater towards this, especially with gaming communities continuing to grow, many conventions will find a way for gaming communities to be part of the event. In particular, Overwatch was one of the most cosplayed games at the Madfest convention this year in Perth, along with other games such as Final Fantasy. The participatory culture that surrounds gaming offline, appears to be taking over compared to films or comic books. Kim, Lee, Thomas and Dombrowski (2009 paragraph 4) discuss this further, stating that “these participatory mechanisms extend digital gaming to incorporate aspects of ‘Reality’ in the form of text messages, phone calls, instant messages and real-world meetings” looking at how communication outside of a game is informed by the gaming community. At pop culture conventions, people often meet up with others who are a part of the same community they are, no matter what age, gender or identity, the gaming, film or television community they are a part of brings them together at events such as this. Even at these conventions, there are stalls that sell shirts and merchandise for different games, and as a further step, there are artist stalls where artists create their own art surrounding a video game that they themselves particularly enjoy. Currently, Overwatch is the most popular game to have fan art physically available at the stalls as the community is so large they know that they will be able to find others that are interested in this game. Pop culture conventions are currently the epitome of community when it comes to the gaming community, as it frequently occurs more often than events such as The Overwatch World Cup, making pop culture conventions the go-to for a physical meeting with others from the same community.
Communities are the soul of competitive online first-person shooter games such as Overwatch, that relies on the people playing to be successful, rather than the storyline to be successful. Looking at Frostling-Henningsson’s, Domahidi, Festl, and Quandt’s, and Kim, Lee Thomas and Dombrowski’s work, as well as my own discussion on Overwatch it is evident that online games, specifically competitive online games, such as first-person shooters, need a community in order to be successful, without a community of players there would be no one playing the game or interacting with the game online and offline. The Overwatch World Cup one of the biggest gaming events where a community that crosses the whole world has come together, participatory actions in fan culture show that offline a community such as Overwatch is taken everywhere with the player, and pop culture conventions such as Madfest and Supanova in Australia, show how the participation in this community can be taken to the next level when there is an event that allows for it. I have demonstrated how there is a community that surrounds the game Overwatch, and that community shows the success of this game, without a community, there would be players, no one would participate in any of the fan culture surrounding Overwatch, and this game would not appear to be successful by those who view it.
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Instagram and It’s Internal Communities
Abstract
This paper argues that there are several communities that are able to communicate and collaborate online, using the social media network, Instagram. These communities include fashion, beauty and fitness. The paper includes an article by Syrdal and Briggs (2018), describing how Instagram visual-based interface increases the engagement and communication on that particular platform. Also, throughout this paper Jeffree Star (an online makeup guru with millions of followers) is used as an example of influencer marketing and brand placement on Instagram. Liu & Suh, (2017) furthur explain how this is a different type of fame, and what these Instagram users are promoting automatically makes their opinions accountable, because of their followings. All mentioned communities are saturated in the Instagram space, although this makes it easier for those that are within these communities to communicate and collaborate with each other.
Keywords: communication, collaborate, Instagram
The online social network, amongst others such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and anymore – has grown rapidly over the eight years since it was launched. As stated by Bradley (p. 2, 2014), “A social networking site is defined as a trusted network, viral community, e-community, or online community where a group of people interact through newsletters, blogs, comments, telephone, e-mail and instant messages (cont.)”. The keyword here being community, is a perfect word to describe what kind of platform Instagram is, notably within certain niche’s or interest-groups such as fitness lovers, fashion lovers and beauty bloggers. With the use of online celebrities (or influencers as t they like to be called), product placement and brand awareness if another way that users collaborate and connect on the app. The algorithm that Instagram utilises throughout its app, allows users to use the app with ease and view content that they would like to see, with minimal ads. I argue that many communities such as the fitness, beauty and fashion; have been able to collaborate efficiently online, using the popular social network, Instagram. Firstly, I will give brief information on what Instagram is and what it’s impact on the social media world, then I will introduce the fashion industry, followed by the beauty and fitness industries, and what Instagram has done for them, and lastly the conclusion.
As mentioned earlier, Instagram is one of the most used social networking sites to date, because of its easy-to-use interface, the fact that it is very image based, and how it constantly promotes on-going interaction and engagement between users and businesses. According to Statista (2017), Instagram has reached 800 million monthly active users, compared to the internet’s most used site Facebook (with 2.2 billion monthly active users), Instagram is not running too far behind (“Facebook users worldwide 2017 | Statista”, 2018). The majority of its growth is dedicated to the evolution of the mobile experience (faster 4G networks available on mobile phones), and also the adoption of high-tech camera functionality embedded into mobile’s today (Bradley 2014). This has escalated the quality of content that users are able to post online, making it easier for users to portray themselves as ‘professional’ or talented “Instagrammers”.
Instagram has a very easy to use interface, starting with a feed that show’s the user photo’s from people are they are following. Originally, the order of these posts were dependent on the timing of when it was posted, now, Instagram sets an algorithm of what profile’s you are most interested in, and pushes their content posts to the top of the feed (support). Although this can benefit some, it also can make it harder for someone to get their post seen, especially if they don’t have much engagement on their post. To upload, users can either choose a photo or a video to upload, then the app allows them to edit with filters, cropping tools and lastly add tags (@usernames and #hashtags), and asks where the user wants the post to be uploaded – profiles can be synced to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr accounts. This allows users to connect with not only their Instagram followers but those from their Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr accounts, which not only gains exposure for their post, but for Instagram as a network. Once a post is uploaded, other users have an option to double-tap causing them to like the photo, or to comment – both of these options create engagement and interaction between the user that has uploaded and the one connecting. Another type of ‘feed’ users can browse through is the ‘explore page’ – this page displays photos of trending posts, people you may know posts and suggested locations and users Instagram recommends you should follow. This is an easy way for users to get their profiles ‘out there’ and discovered – creating online communities and forming online friendships. With the use of hashtags, @usernames and profile syncing, users can easily connect with whoever they want, on whatever platform they want.
Instagram hugely involves users into a world of hashtags, where users feel a sense of belonging within their own interests, whether it be food, fashion, beauty, fitness etc. Some users not only create a personal account, but a second account that is dedicated to their obsessions, for example @MenWithStreetStyle. This account is followed by 2.9 millions users, but has no personal aspect to it, as the account just shares solely images of ‘men with street style’. Each image that is uploaded is then attached with a number of hashtags to get the photo out there. Such as #StreetStyle, #StreetFashion, #MenWithStyle, #Style, #StreetFashion. These hashtags not online grab the attention of other users, but encourage others within the ‘fashion community’ to follow and engage with this post, and better yet, create their own content using the mentioned hashtags. There are many fashion influencers/bloggers that have established themselves on Instagram, and are even sent clothes by big brands to increase the brand awareness for those clothing lines.
It has always been said that platforms that have more visual aspects to it usually succeed are used more frequently by users; and also create more engagement (Syrdal and Briggs 2018). Content, especially on Instagram is expected to be rich in nature and eye- catching, as the interface is a feed of just images (or short videos), there are no statuses like Facebook’s feature; it’s simply images and videos (Syrdal and Briggs 2018). Instagram works on a similar algorithm to Pinterest, where the quality and aesthetic of images is what determines how ‘good’ someones profile looks, and how likely they are to follow you (Syrdal and Briggs 2018). What makes up a users profile is their posts, displayed in small squares, which some like to organise so that posts match each other and makes the profile seem more organised and thought-out (making it more likely for someone to follow them). Instagram users enjoy scrolling through their feed viewing high-quality, eye-catching images/videos, this is why those aesthetically pleasing Instagram profiles, are the ones that have a high amount of followers. An example of this could be @JayAlvarrez who has been taking scenic and travel photos for many years and has curated 5.9 million followers on Instagram alone.
Research has shown that individuals use social media for two uses, the first it to find others with similar interests to them, thereby forming friendships/relationships. The other reason, is for users to “maintain already existing relationships” (Bradley 2014). In the context of Instagram, users are urged to ‘find each other’ through hashtags, the explore page and suggested users – listing other Instagram profiles with similar posts/ hashtags; creating engagement and connection.
Mentioned by Casaló, Flavián & Ibáñez-Sánchez (2017), Instagram is not only great at creating personal bondings, but between the a brand and the consumer, the SNS (social networking site) generates a high level of brand community and engagement. It leaves a platform open for consumers to comment/rave (and even discriminate against) a product; generating organic (or paid) exposure online.
Another community that continuously thrives to blossom on Instagram is the beauty community. Young teenage girls are the main users in this community, with beauty pages being created show their love for makeup, to pages dedicated to their favourite makeup artist. Instagram has made it easier for users and their followers to communicate, bringing a community closer. Similar to the fashion community certain hashtags are used on the SNS to categorise make up looks and encourage users to re-create those looks. These include #SmokeyEye, #NaturalLook, #JeffreeStar, #WingedLiner.
One of the major ‘beauty-gurus’ Jeffree Star has generated a following of 5.7 million users simply by sharing his love and skills for makeup on the SNS, sharing videos and images daily (“Jeffry Star (@jeffreestar)”, 2018). His posts attract just under 250,000 likes and around 1,000 comments alone, the majority of them being makeup-obsessed junkies showing their appreciation, asking questions, requesting videos and looks (“Jeffree Star (@jeffreestar)”, 2018). The success of Jeffree Star’s self-branding on Instagram has allowed him to launch his own cosmetics line named ‘Jeffree Star Cosmetics’.
Self-branding has recently became a used phrased to describe those that remake themselves as a “saleable commodity to attract attention and acquire cultural and monetary value through social media platforms” (Liu & Suh, 2017). Just like a normal business brand, one that is self-branded must attract engagement and exposure in order to sell themselves or the products they are creating. Seen as a different type of fame, self- branding promotes both business targeted self-presentation online and authenticity through the posts that are being put on Instagram (Liu & Suh, 2017). Meaning, presenting themselves online has to cater (and target) not only to the mainstream market, but to those that are potential customers. Brands then tend to utilise the exposure of these online celebrities and this is when product placement comes into play. For example, cosmetic brands such as Benefit or Urban Decay send out free products to these influencers (along with payments) to get a post on Instagram in return with certain tags and #hashtags to increase brand awareness and in-turn, influence their followers to buy the same product from that brand. This can close the gap between brands (makeup brands in this instance) and users (makeup users) where the brand has such a presence on social media that they almost become part of the community online too.
Another industry/community that is active on the Instagram platform is the fitness community. Those that are fitness obsessed have found a ‘home’ to where they can find food and training advice, and loads of information on how to stay or become healthy (Neal 2017). Online fitness fanatics are prone to posting progress photos to keep their followers interested and help them stay relevant. They almost become personal trainers without the qualification because of their success (online) (Neal 2017). A very successful and well-known example of this type of influencer would be Tammy Hembrow, with now 8.1 million followers, Tammy is an ambassador for a protein brand Women’s Best and models for big brands such as Good American (Khloe Kardashian’s denim brand). Tammy also creates her own fitness programs, as she is well known for her ‘bounce-back body’ after giving birth to two children, she has managed to keep a tight, fit body that her followers love.
There are many online communities that Instagram has helped stay connected whether it be a fandom or a fashion interest, accounts that are dedicated and/or even personal
accounts that post similar posts can share similarities and interests, creating online engagement and connection, making the world a smaller place (online). As Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networking sites with its monthly users number growing every year, users find it easier to interact and search for conversation within the Instagram app to be a part of or to create a community. Mentioned earlier the fashion community heavily relies on social media to keep up with trends and especially for users to see what celebrities (if not, influencers) are wearing with their #OOTD (outfit of the day) posts. Users such as @MenWithStreetStyle post inspiration for users (targeting males) on being fashionable. In the beauty community, mentioned earlier was user @JeffreeStar and how he creates conversation online because of his massive online following in the beauty community, and even creating his own line of cosmetics. Lastly, in the fitness industry many accounts are open conversations for trainers and gym-goers to connect with each other and share information such as diet tips and workout plans to assist and transform bodies all around the globe. Tammy Hembrow was mentioned as she has made herself very well-known in the fitness industry thanks to her great use of Instagram and posting body images online to show her progress from her baby body to post-baby body. With the use of hashtags, influencers and plenty of engaging content, Instagram can very much assist communities in collaborating efficiently online.
References
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Online gaming is becoming more popular than real life sports because of the effects of globalization such as online gaming communities, communication, Web 2.0 and technology.
Abstract
This conference paper will analyze how the effects of globalization has benefited online gaming and thus the reason why online gaming is gaining in popularity compared to real life sports. Effects such as the increase in global market value with online gaming products vs sports products, how globalization has brought about thousands of online gaming communities and why people are becoming more involved with online games due to these communities. Finally, the conference paper will explore how the technological advancements brought about by globalization such as Web 2.0 have facilitated the popularity of online gaming and consequently why real-life sports is declining in attractiveness and participation.
This conference paper will argue that online gaming is becoming more popular than sports due to globalisation and possibly online gaming events are growing larger than events such as the Olympics, FIFA world cup and other major sporting events. Globalisation has affected every type of industry including sports with broadcasting rights for television dictating at what time athletes will actually compete so that maximum viewers are attained as this was the case for the Rio Olympic Games. Although lately, in the last decade, the gaming industry has grown exceptionally fast with the U.S and Japanese being the two major participators with many smaller nations rapidly climbing up the ladder, studies indicate that the gaming industry will be the largest industry in front of music and filmography in the coming years. Therefore, this puts the gaming industry in the forefront of globalization. (Charles Sterin & Winston, 2017).
One may argue that these two aspects of gaming do not fall into the same context. However, they are actually both very similar. It is important to establish what is meant by real-life games and online games. Real-life games can be anything played by 1 or more people such as chess, which can be played by one person as well as two people; Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Motor GP, Formula One racing and even gambling are all by definition, games. The definition of a game is “a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators” (“The definition of games”, 2018). There is in fact no official definition for “online gaming”, thus, for this argument’s sake, online gaming will be used in the context of any game that is played on a computer/mobile phone, (such as PlayStation or Xbox), and basically any type of electronic technology that has access to the Internet. Furthermore, most online games are direct representations of real-life games such as sports games found online, racing games and gambling games, but of course online games also go beyond the realm of reality and into fiction.
The globalisation of online gaming is more profitable than the globalization of real-life gaming sports. Expert historians in sport conclude that the globalization of sports began with the British Imperial Colonisation in the 1870s, but even today, sports globalisation still continues across the world with countries adopting new types of sports. Globalisation in sports today is through broadcasting large events such as the Olympic Games for example. Research has revealed that the Athens 2004 Olympic games had a total audience of 40 billion for the whole duration of the 17 days the Games took place (Giulianotti & Robertson, 2007). For the 2008 Beijing Olympics 3 billion dollars in revenue had been projected during the time of the Games but overall cost China approximately $41.1 billion to host them (Crookall, 2010). Besides major events, the global sports market revenue for 2017 reached a total of 90 billion US dollars (“Global sports market revenue 2005-2017 | Statistic”, 2018). The globalization period of online gaming compared to the latter has occurred over a much shorter period of time considering that the first game played on separate computer screens came out in 1970s (Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006). Online gaming has only recently taken major strides socioeconomically in recent years due to major improvements in technology. The demand for games in the marketing environment is becoming more present because businesses are investing more into games now to attract customers to their products. For example, Ikea Furniture Mobile Game App allows people to decorate their home with Ikea furniture. Accordingly, the global market share predicts that the gaming industry will grow to approx. +6.6% CAGR between 2015 and 2019. In figures, the gaming market was estimated at 91.8 billion US dollars by the year 2019 and the market value would have increased to 118.6 billion US dollars (Warman, 2016). These figures reveal that globalization is making online gaming more profitable than real life gaming and sports.
Online gaming is building successful online communities due to globalization, which has made the world so interconnected due to the ease for people to communicate today through the internet. People can experience a range of diverse cultures and experiences; globalization has created a global community which is subdivided into smaller communities whereby people interact with similar interests to work together to build a bigger more attractive community.
There is no singular definition for online communities; with reference to Preece, “online community consists of people who interact socially as they strive to satisfy their own needs to perform special roles. They also have a shared purpose, an interest or need, information exchange, or service that provides a reason for community.” (Preece, 2000). Just like any community member, an online game player also strives to satisfy their needs and have some kind of special role to help in accomplishing a task. Additionally, games seek to exchange information, share objectives as well as is a kind of entertainment service to spectators and an in-depth social motivation between other players (M.I. Koivisto, 2003). For example, research has demonstrated that online gamers believe that the social aspect within a game is an important element to them because it encourages motivation between players (Williams et al., 2006). Previous research conducted on social participation and the formation of friendships states that there are two types of real-life social ties, which may contribute to an understanding of social interactions that occur within a game. These are: bridging and bonding (Castiglione, Van Deth & Wolleb, 2008). Bridging Social Capital occurs when weaker social ties make people feel informed or inspired by each other whereas Bonding Social Capital occurs when strong social ties create emotional support and understanding (Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006). In terms of gaming, there is more evidence indicating that an increase in Bridging Social Capital is occurring amongst players and online gaming communities. However, there is also evidence to indicate otherwise, especially in game genres such as Massively Multiplayer Open World Role Playing Games (MMORPG), (Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006). Globalisation has allowed for online gaming communities to be formed almost instantaneously within multiplayer games such as Call of Duty, where match cycles can bring in new players every time, forming more of a bridging type social capital amongst players. Although, some games, especially in longer playing games where time and grinding for gear and experience points to level up, have a tendency to have much stronger community ties and seem to be creating more of a bonding type of social capital (M.I. Koivisto, 2003). These communities within some MMORPG games like World of Warcraft or Destiny 2 are called guilds. These guilds provide players with an interactive collaboration between users, and this collaboration can be in the form of voice chat, video chat or simply messaging. Furthermore, guilds offer further support to new members of the game by giving them advice or teaching them little tricks in the game to get a head start or even in some cases give them gear or some kind of useful character item to help them. Within these guilds, there are sub-communities where players have formed closer groups of friends that can get together and go on their own missions and help each other progress faster in the early stages of the game. This is evidence that supports more of a bonding type of social capital (M.I. Koivisto, 2003). Online gaming communities almost seem to have more meaningful interactions between players than simply playing the game, a quote from Burns states that “engagement with the game does not finish when the game session ends, and the computer or console is switched off. Players continue to think about, imagine, even dream about, the events, landscapes and characters of the game.” (Burn 2006)
This quote from Burns suggests that online gaming experiences including online communities is not an isolated singular experience nor is it just one type of social capital, but rather mix of both, depending on the genre of the game (Crawford, 2014). On the other hand, real-life sporting communities are restricted to a particular environment where exchanges can be made such as a football field. Once the time has passed and the game is over, the experience is over, and no further exchanges are made. This has proven not to be the case for online gaming communities. Hence, it is possible that globalisation has given technological means for online gaming communities to be more successful around the world by helping, assisting and building lasting communities where globalisation for real-life sporting communities is limited to its local surroundings.
Although globalisation may be responsible for shaping the world of today, Web 2.0 is probably the true driver behind the success of online gaming communities and relationships. Online communities have come into existence thanks to the creation of the Internet, in particular Web 2.0, which has allowed people to connect with other people; now, more than ever before. Web 2.0 is not just simply a means of staying connected but has also allowed users to participate with other users in an in-depth experience through user-generated content. This user-generated content has impacted the social lives of all users (Wolf, 2018). In other words, Web 2.0 is a major key factor in the reason why online communities have achieved so many social possibilities.
Web 2.0 has enabled communication facilities, which have been integrated into the game mechanics. This does get more technical at some point and will not be discussed here, but this free flow of communication between players within a gaming environment or community is crucial towards the support of the argument that online gaming communities can be as involved and as real as sporting gaming communities. Thus, now it is important to discuss what are the types of communications that are conducted between gamers which will hopefully support the point that online gaming communities can be as involved through the communication possibilities between players because of Web 20. In order for online game players to cooperate with each other in an online gaming environment it must have a broad range of possible ways for players to communicate. The more often players can communicate to each other; the more likely players are to positively contribute to the games social framework (M.I. Koivisto, 2003). Most games require a player to create a virtual avatar whereby interactions are mediated through their virtual avatars of the gamers who inhabit them. Other forms of communication in MMORPGs are character victory emotes; spray tags, clothing or skins that the avatar characters are wearing. These are all forms of communication and status amongst players (M.I. Koivisto, 2003). These similar traits can be found in real-life sporting games too. Many people will wear the football shirt of their favourite international team to communicate that to the players around them, and people who also support that team will notice thus forming a mutual connection. Another example of real-life simulacra is Usain Bolt’s winning pose. Many people will replicate or simulate his victory pose to communicate to others that they have achieved some kind of victory that is meaningful to them. Thus, this proves that Web 2.0 has achieved the same level of meaningful communication and involvement amongst players in online gaming communities.
In this conference paper it has been established that online games and real-life games share the same definition of the meaning, for both types are conducted within the realms of clearly defined rules and objectives furthermore both real life sports, games and online gaming have been affected by globalization advantages and draw backs. Real life sports games might still receive more recognition world-wide in terms of broadcasting views but online gaming in terms of global popularity, participation and market share is benefiting a lot more from globalisation due to the fact that online games can be played at anytime and anywhere. It will only be a matter of time until online gaming events become as anticipated as the Olympics games or football world cup especially with the advancements in virtual reality and Web 2.0, people will become more involved with each through games because they will be more electronically connected than ever before which will only increase the demand for more realistic games and even competitive events. This means between real-life sports games and online gaming, globalization is definitely increasing the popularity of online games a lot more than real life sports games.
Reference list
Burn, A. (2006) ‘Reworking the Text: online fandom’, in D. Carr, D. Buckingham, A. Burn and G. Schott (eds) Computer Games: text, narrative and play, Cambridge, Polity.
Crawford, G. (2014). Video Gamers (1st ed.). Taylor and Francis. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/lib/curtin/detail.action?docID=743941
Castiglione, D., Van Deth, J., & Wolleb, G. (2008). Handbook of Social Capital. Oxford University Press, UK.
Charles Sterin, J., & Winston, T. (2017). Mass Media Revolution (3rd ed.). Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/curtin/detail.action?docID=5209906&query=effects+of+globalization+on+online+gaming
Crookall, D. (2010). Serious Games, Debriefing, and Simulation/Gaming as a Discipline. Simulation & Gaming, 41(6), 898-920. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1046878110390784
GIULIANOTTI, R., & ROBERTSON, R. (2007). Sport and globalization: transnational dimensions. Global Networks, 7(2), 107-112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2007.00159.x
Global sports market revenue 2005-2017 | Statistic. (2018). Statista. Retrieved 25 April 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/370560/worldwide-sports-market-revenue/
M.I. Koivisto, E. (2003). Supporting Communities in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games by Game Design. DiGRA Conference. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4f17/ee84f741c023f8c040e2cfd4a771dd1b9bfb.pdf?_ga=2.144524405.1182549581.1520146345-985881193.1520146345
The Influence of Social Network Sites on Communities, Social Capital, and Civic and Political Engagement
Abstract
This paper explores the concepts of community and how computer-mediated technologies, such as Social Network Sites (SNS), influence the ways in which these communities are structured within the virtual and physical environments. As SNSs become common in our everyday life, individuals are increasingly involving themselves in a variety different social networks online that cater for a diverse and niche audience. Particularly, this paper explores how the political realms interact with SNSs to not only allow traditional and non-traditional political organisations to disseminate news and information, but to foster debate and discourse among those involved within these political communities. Further, this paper will analyse how the extent to which communities utilise SNSs to access news and information influences the social capital of individuals. This paper will then analyse studies from Zuniga, Jung, and Valenzuela (2012,) and Zuniga, Barnidge and Scherman (2017), to specifically understand how SNS enable this increased social capital, in addition to how this consequently influences the levels of civic and political engagement both online and offline. Moreover, this paper will argue that the accumulation of news and information through SNSs increases individuals social capital and political and civil participation. Further, this paper will conclude that increased online social capital is predictive towards an increase in social capital offline.
Keywords: computer-mediated technology, communities, social capital, political science
Introduction
Current studies into the concepts of community within our contemporary society focus on how the experience of community has been affected by computer-mediated technologies such as smart phones, computers and the internet (Katz et al. 2004). Many authors within this field offer many varying definitions of “community” to provide a broad context whereby they argue differing community constructs. While Arensberg (1965) identifies three constructs to community; environment, social form, and pattered behavior; Sanders (1966) argues four; a place to live, a spatial unit, a way of life, and a social system. With an abundance of differing definitions around community, Jones (1995) found that the majority of definitions relied heavily on the constructs of social involvement and interaction, rather than relying on physical space, and more on the social systems that function within a community environment. Meyrowitz’s (1985; 1989) analysis of social roles and identities within communities, focusing on media and mental constructs, allows for an argument that is more appropriate to the virtual landscape in which computer-mediated technologies provide. Meyrowitz (1985; 1989) describes how individuals gain a sense of who they are, and the community in which they identify, by imaging how others – live and mediated – view them, noting the importance of media and mediation in the development of community. Katz et al. (2004) review many of these varying definitions of “community” to provide characteristics that both physical and virtual communities allow for, noting similarities, but more importantly, differences whereby virtual communities extend the boundaries of physical communities. Through their analysis, Katz et al. (2004) provide four ideal community types; traditional communities, pseudo-communities, imaginary communities, and social networks.
Social Networks
Social network communities refers to virtual communities, where personal mediated technologies have allowed for telecommunication that transcend geographic location, facilitating specialized and personal communities based on belonging rather than physical proximity (Katz et al., 2004). Katz et al. (2004) describe this community as networked individualism, where individuals can choose their community voluntarily within a larger social construction. Moreover, personal mediated technologies, such as mobile phones, can facilitate this network individualism faster than that of physical communities. Social network sites (SNS) are increasingly becoming an important platform that aid the creation of these social networks and communities online. SNSs allow users the ability to create individual profiles based around their identity and interests, and ultimately connect and navigate with others within the SNS (Zuniga, Jung and Valensuela, 2012). Social network sites allow for what Katz et al. (2004) describes as ‘network individualism’ with others within the social network that share similar interests, beliefs, or activities. Boyd and Ellison (2008) describe how SNS can cater for a more diverse and niche audience who seek to network based around racial, sexual, religious, political, or nationality-based identities.
SNSs and Politics
Politics in particular has become an important determinant in the development of social network communities, as individuals are able to interact and collaborate with others who share similar political ideologies and affiliations. Facebook in particular has become saturated with social network groups that identify all ends of the political spectrum, whether it’s hard-left, centric, or hard-right ideologies. These social networks can be facilitated by traditional political parties in an attempt diversify their communication channels. For example, the ‘The Australian Greens’ and ‘One Nation’ both have Facebook pages in an attempt to communicate directly with their publics. Whilst these traditional political parties utilise Facebook as a means to communicate policy, news and civic information with physical communities in which they are responsible for, they lack authoritative control over the activities and discourse that function within their social network. Private citizens, no matter of political ideology, can interact with each other through these political Facebook groups, in a manner that allows for rational, inclusive and general debate. Similar to that of traditional political organisation, private citizens can form communities on Facebook around subjective political interests and activities. The Facebook page “Patriot Blue” is publicity organised community of individuals who boast far-right political interests in Australia, supporting policies that are seen as anti-immigration and anti-globalist, to name a few. Empowered by the rise of Pauline Hanson’s ‘One Nation’ political party, ‘Patriot Blue’ utilise Facebook as a space for individuals who identify as ‘patriots’ or ‘nationalist’ to share news and civic information that reap right-wing characteristics (Tran, 2017). Similarly, Facebook communities can foster around specific political and public issues rather than a particular political ideology that is interested in a number of policy issues that affect their communities. The Facebook page ‘Australian Marriage Equality’ is a community of individuals with an interest and involvement in the issue regarding the legalisation same-sex marriage in Australia. This group boasts a social network of over 303,000 users, utilising Facebook as a social tool to communicate and engage with others the issues regarding same-sex marriage. Engagement with news and information published by ‘Australian Marriage Equality’ within this public forum allows for further debate and discourse around the issue. Users who disagree or express a different opinion with the information produced by ‘Australian Marriage Equality’ can react, comment or share their personal opinion with others within the social network ‘Australian Marriage Equality’ provides, in addition to their own personal social network.
Social Capital and News
Coleman originated the term ‘social capital’ as a “common set of expectations, a set of shared values, and a sense of trust among people” (1990, p. 306). Since the term was originated, other theorists have conceptualised vary definitions of social capital, particularly within studies involving community relations with the public and political sphere. As scholars became interested in the constructs of social involvement and interaction (Jones, 1995) in facilitating communities, social capital was viewed as the value this social involvement and interaction added to individuals’ lives. As SNS’ facilitate the growth of differing on political communities, it too facilitates the structure and nature of the social capital within these communities. As SNSs become common place within our computer-mediated society, they are becoming increasingly used as a tool to gather news and information about their online and offline communities (Zunia, Jung and Valenzuela, 2012). The same ways in which individual use SNS as a tool to construct identity and maintain social relationships, it is also utilised as a tool to contribute and share news information that is public or politically orientated. News and information, as Zuniga, Jung and Valenzuela (2012) note, can be curated around individuals political interests, values and beliefs, allowing them to be shared and discussed among their social network. Zunia, Jung and Valenzuela (2012) conducted a study through data collected in the U.S. between December 15, 2008, and January 5, 2009, in order to explore how individual SNSs use for news contributed to the creation of social capital. The study found that the extent to which respondents used SNSs to gather and share political news and public information about their community was positively related to social capital (Zunia, Jung and Valenzuela, 2012). The study found that respondents who shared political and public news reinforced new and existing community ties by keeping up to date with each other with what’s going on in their community, further creating more trusting and strong relationships (Zunia, Jung and Valenzuela, 2012). As individuals increasingly utilise SNSs as a tool to gather and share news and information about their communities, increasingly individuals found to report higher levels of value within their relationships with the online network of individuals whom they’re sharing this news and information. Consequently, high levels of social capital reported also found to influence individuals willingness to civically engage; particularly influencing online and offline political participation activities.
Civic and Political Participation: Online and Offline
The research provided by Zuniga, Jung and Valenzuela (2012) allows an understanding of how SNS use for news and information gathering and sharing effects individual social capital levels. It also provides an understanding of how these social capital levels can influence individuals willingness to participate in civic and political activities within their online and offline communities. The study present by Zuniga, Jung and Valenzuela (2012) measured participation at three levels; civic engagement, offline political participation, and online political participation. While civic engagement refers to the extent to which individuals are willing to work for the community, like volunteering for a charity, political activities (online and offline), political enagement refers to the involvement and behaviour towards government action and policy making (Zuniga, Jung and Valensuela, 2012). The study found that individuals political efficacy, SNS use for news, and political discussion network attributes, had a positive impact on individuals online participation activities like sharing political news and messages (Zuniga, Jung and Valensuela, 2012). Similarly, individuals behavioural use of SNSs to gather news and information was found to be predictive of offline political participation activities such as protesting and voting (Zuniga, Jung and Valensuela, 2012). Further research from Zuniga, Barnidge and Scherman (2017) introduces the idea that social capital fostered within SNS is different to that of social capital fostered within physical communities, relating to different types of citizenship and political participation online and offline. In a study conducted in the U.S. between December 2013 and January 2014, Zuniga Barnidge and Scherman (2017) found distinct different between offline social capital and SNS social capital, concluding they respect different constructs and difference. The study found that although both constructs are different, they’re still interrelated as SNS social capital was found to be more predictive of offline social capital more strongly than the other way around (Zuniga, Barnidge and Scherman, 2012). Moreover, Zuniga Barnidge and Scherman (2012) describe social capital in online and offline communities as a ‘virtuous circle’ due to ones predictability over the other; that being, that social capital fostered through SNS predicts whether these citizens will continue to foster social capital within their communities offline through civil and political participation activities.
In the case for the Facebook communities previous mentioned in ‘SNSs and Politics’, increased participation in online and offline civic and political activities can be analysed. The Facebook community ‘Patriot Blue’ have been noted within news media to utilise SNSs as a tool to not only disseminate information and foster political discourse online, but to coordinate activities offline in objective to further their collective political agenda. Tran (2017) reported on how this far-right Australian group coordinated protests and activist activities offline through SNSs, like ambushing NSW Labour Senator Sam Dastyari, a self-proclaimed left-wing NSW Labour Politian (now ex-politician). The Patriot Blues recorded this confrontation between the two polarising political spectrums, and shared in with their Facebook community in an attempt to send a message to the community that this type of political confrontation is acceptable (Tran, 2017). Though the incident has been labelled a ‘stage-managed stunt’ due to the nature of the confrontation that lacked appropriate political discourse, and focused more around insults towards the senators race and ethnicity, this Facebook community exemplifies how SNS can enabled collective offline activities that are motivated by political ideologies and affiliations. Similarly, in the case for ‘Australian Marriage Equality’, this non-traditional political organisation utilised Facebook to not only communicate news and information around same-sex marriage issues, but they also organised and coordinated hundreds of offline protests throughout wider Australian communities. Koslowski (2017) reports in the Huffington Post that over 20,000 people showed interest in the Sydney event on Facebook, while Weeks (2017) from The Guardian reports an estimated 30,000 people rallied from Sydney town hall to Circular Quay in support of the ‘yes’ campaign towards same-sex marriage.
Limitations
The article presented by Zuniga, Jung and Valenzuela (2012) provides a study that attempts to overcome the limitations of the accuracy of representing the entire population of U.S adults. The authors identify that their study allowed for more females who were slightly more educated than the general population, which may cause discrepancies and bias within the study. Despite its limitations, the study provides an important contribution into how computer-mediated technologies enrich the social capital of different communities and accordingly, encourage civic and political engagement. Similarly, the article presented by Zuniga, Barnidge and Scherman (2017) identifies the inherent limitations of casual order when regarding the relationship between online social capital and political participation. This papers attempt to analyse particular Facebook groups that identify towards a specific political ideology or policy issue provides a broad understanding of the types of offline activities that online communities can coordinate and engage in. Though this paper explores different instances within Australia whereby SNSs have facilitated offline civic and political participation, the analysis can only assume similar findings to Zuniga, Jung and Valenzuela (2012), and Zuniga, Barnidge and Scherman (2017), whereby SNSs enabled greater amounts of social capital to foster which consequently saw an increase in individuals willingness to participate in both online and offline political activities.
Conclusion and Future Study
In summary, this paper seeks to explore the influence SNS have in enabling online and offline communities to function, grow and strengthen. As SNSs become an integral tool for individuals to navigate and understand the diverse communities in which they reside and identify, they are increasingly becoming a space for the political realm to function. In the same ways in which traditional political organisations utilise Facebook as a communication channel to disseminate news and information that suit their political agenda or affiliation (The Australian Greens), more commonly SNSs are allowing non-traditional political organisations (Patriot Blue and Australian Marriage Equality) the ability to communicate news and information about their communities particular political interests and beliefs. As Facebook users are increasingly found to be utilising the social network as a space to gather news and information around political interests, users are consequently seen to exhibit higher levels of social capital. As users foster higher levels of social capital online, they’re found to have a greater willingness to participate in civic and political activities both online and offline. In conclusion, this paper found that increased online social capital was predictive towards an increase in social capital offline, identifying a shift in the relationship between the structure and function of social capital within different community types.
References
Arensberg, C. M. & Kimball, S. T. (1965). Culture and community. New York:
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Boyd, D., and Ellison, N. (2008). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.
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Jones, S. G. (1995). Understanding community in the information age. In S. G. Jones (Ed.)
Cybersociety: Computer mediated communication and community (pp. 12-29). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Katz, J., Rice, R., Acord, S., Dasgupta, K., and David, K. (2004). Personal Mediated
Communication and the Concept of Community in Theory and Practice. In P. Kalbfleisch (Ed.), Communication and Community: Communication Yearbook 28 (pp. 315-371). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Koslowski, M. (2017, October 21). ‘Huge Same-Sex Marriage Rally In Sydney Kicks Off
National Equality Weekend’. The Huffington Post Australia. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/10/20/huge-same-sex-marriage-rally-in-sydney-kicks-off-national-equality-weekend_a_23250885/
Meyrowitz, J. (1985). No sense of place: The impact of electronic media on social behaviour.
New York: Oxford University Press.
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Sanders, I. T. (1966). The community: An introduction to a social system (2nd ed). New
York: Roland Press.
Tran, D. (2017, November 10). Patriot Blue and other far right groups are ambushing
politicians because they want publicity’. ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-09/patriot-blue-australia-far-right-groups/9134338
Weeks, J. (2017, September 11). ‘‘Yes!’: marriage equality rally sweeps Sydney – in
pictures’. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/gallery/2017/sep/11/yes-marriage-equality-rally-sweeps-sydney
Zuniga, H., Jung, N., and Valenzuela, S. (2012). Social Media Use for ENWs and Individuals’
Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political Participation. Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication, 12, 319 – 336. International Communication Association.
Zuniga, H., Barnidge, M., and Scherman, A. (2017). Social Media Social Capital, Offline
Social Capital, and Citizenship: Exploring Asymmetrical Social Capital Effects.
Political Communication, 34, (1), 44 – 68. DOI: 0.1080/10584609.2016.1227000
Inclusivity of the Modern Gaming Community and the Reinvention of Online Gaming Identity through Streaming Platforms
Abstract
This paper explores the online gaming community and the facilitation of this community in the modern era through the growth of the Twitch video streaming platform. Also examined within this paper is the new way in which self-identity is formed within these gaming communities without taking into account the skill factor of the players themselves, but rather their presentation of self. This identity is not only redefined in a modern online context, but also brings about emphasis on generating social capital through identity. This paper presents a focus on the research conducted by Goffman (1959) on defining identity and presentation of self through its overarching, social based context. Whilst seemingly outdated research from a technological context, this paper will be applying this research to the modern technological world we live in today from a gaming perspective. Further research on this area from Pearson (2009) reports of how peoples online identities are shaped through worded exchanges however this paper demonstrates that nowadays, construction of online gaming identity goes beyond this. Gruzd, Wellman and Takhteyev (2011) discuss the topic of imagined communities which is heavily incorporated in this paper with the worldwide gaming community continuously growing, albeit in an “imagined” space whereby players interact digitally and not physically. This paper will illustrate how this interaction is becoming closer through live streaming platforms.
Introduction
As a worldwide community, it is without a doubt that the gaming scene has met with dramatic change in the demographic and number of members throughout the last decade. Through the rapid expansion of technology, gamers have been met with a wealth of ways to reinvent themselves with an online identity and create a cult-like social community following. Online platforms such as Twitch present any gamer with the opportunity to grow an audience and community through a smooth live streaming experience. It is through platforms like Twitch that gamer personalities can ultimately reinvent their own identity in an online version and form a presentation of self that is uniquely attractive to a large worldwide audience. This paper will attempt to demonstrate that through the evolution of technology, online imagined communities within the gaming sphere have been conjured and facilitated through astronomical social capital development. As a result of this social capital, the overarching identity modern game streamers has been reshaped and is no longer so heavily associated with the game itself, but the way in which they visually portray themselves.
Gaming Community facilitation through Social Capital
Through the growth of the gaming community in the twenty first century, the social presence of prominent gaming personalities and their own community that support them have brought gamers to all new heights within the social hierarchy. In terms of the online gaming community, social interaction is what allows it to flourish through constant multiplatform engagement between members and personalities. Social Capital is a term that incorporates relationships within online communities that continue to allow the community to flourish as one such as cooperative behavior and the reliance on one another (Jiang, 2012). Because this community is entirely virtual through the actual games themselves, social capital as discussed by Trepte, Reinecke and Juechems (2012) has accumulated incredibly through different social networking opportunities besides playing the games alone. Although physical distance may remain large from player to player within this community, specific online gaming communities represent a reachable digital distance which is unmatched and the opportunity for social capital acquisition grows through the gamers connection to a game and its players (Trepte et al 2012).
With technology playing such a significant role in the lives we live today, the ways in which these online gaming communities are facilitated is evident in many cases throughout the modern day. Platforms including YouTube as well as Twitch, whereby gamers can share their gameplay content in a live or compiled manner attract hundreds of thousands of viewers from within the widespread gaming community. Modern games of juggernaut popularity such as ‘Fortnite Battle Royale’ and ‘PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ have accumulated incredible viewership of game content on different creator channels. With an amassed average total of over 250,000 viewers of these games on Twitch at any one time (“The Most Watched Games on Twitch, May 2018”, 2018), the growth of this online gaming sub community has propelled streamers like Tyler ‘Ninja’ Belvins to celebrity status. Not only has social capital been generated through viewing gaming content, but also through interacting with the community members on multiple social networking platforms. Through prominent social media programs including Twitter, Facebook and again YouTube we see gamers generate a sense of belonging and grow social capital within the community as a whole through commenting and posting. Meanwhile as I write this paper, we see 420 tweets under the hashtag #fortnite in the past hour from around the world!
The Inclusion Factor of the Twitch Community
In the online world we live in today, the notion of a community has taken dramatic twists and turns. Not only are we seeing the word “community” becoming a more talked about topic, but also through the work of Gruzd et al. (2011), we see the idea of “imagined community” coming to life as technology becomes more prominent in our own lives. They discuss how through the internet, we are now able to interact in numerous ways, without actually meeting physically in person (Gruzd et al. 2011). This in essence has spurred the notion of “imagined community” to come about. In the context of the gaming community, this is ever-present in the ability for people to join online sessions without knowing the people physically in person, and then simply cut the online ties by disconnecting from this session. In the modern day, the gaming community expands further than simply games however. Through the growth of platforms discussed previously including Twitch, we see the gaming community interact in multiple new ways. Labeled as the “rapidly growing live-streaming multimedia phenomenon” (Hilvert-Bruce, Neill, Sjöblom & Hamari, 2018), Twitch has risen to become a go-to platform for gamers to share their live gameplay content to a wide audience. In fact, the live streaming genre of gaming has become so popular in recent years, that sometimes we see more people viewing someone play games as an audience, than the number of people actually playing the games themselves (Kaytoue, Silva, Cerf, Meira Jr & Raïssi, 2012). This communal growth is highlighted by the doubling of audience figures annually, with viewers in 2014 reaching heights of over one hundred million unique monthly users (Ewalt, 2014).
Twitch’s broad community is formed through the ability to comment live through a text-based chat room function and have an audience interact with the streamer in real time. This feature allows the streamer to answer questions from their audience or comment on messages sent to them whilst they publicly broadcast their gaming stream (Hamilton, Garretson & Kerne, 2014), which in turn generates a complex, more engaged online community. When compared to platforms such as YouTube for example, Twitch caters heavily towards this closer community integration to the creators, and hence is used extensively by todays streamers to entertain their viewer base. Ultimately, the consistent interaction with other members of the online gaming community via the Twitch platform results in a sense of belonging for people within this community (Blight, 2016).
Identity through a Gaming Perspective
The topic of identity is extremely broad and can contain differing definitions depending on the context. Identity as a general term as discussed by Goffman “is seen as part of the flow of social interaction as individuals construct identity performances fitting their milieu” (Goffman, 1959). In the current day, identity takes shape in differing formats with arguably the most recent form being an “online identity”. In an online setting, identity tends to be controllable and of disembodiment (Boyd, 2006), meaning people on social networks can filter content in ways that best represent them. It is through technological innovation that a shift in the coming about of one’s online identity has been seen. Originally, online identity was conjured through simple worded exchanges, however nowadays it is formed by characters and their actions throughout a digitally constructed and competitive environment (Pearson, 2009). Pearson’s referral of this is to games and their ability to generate a player’s identity by the degree of difficulty of their actions within the digital environment. In the modern environment, it could be assumed that this remains, with many players’ online identities being characterised through the difficulty in which they play their games. Through rising audiences in the live stream genre however, we are seeing streamers attempting to differentiate themselves from the herd and their identity being formed from a fictional portrayal by the player. In a bid to entertain on a gaming platform, modern streamers have been seen use their reimagined, fictionally constructed self-identity as a huge marketing tool to generate a community on their channel. This is compared to previously, simply presenting high difficulty content and with the characters within the game generating much of the identity for the player (Pearson, 2009).
Constructing an Identity separate from “High Tier” Gameplay
Modern gaming has a dense and widespread player base. With a booming market and an incredible amount of games to choose from, today’s players are spoilt with a plethora of different skill-based games in which they can play for hundreds of hours per year. From the hardcore players of war games such as the ‘Call of Duty’ franchise, to strategy games like ‘League of Legends’, these many hours of experience can forcibly generate gamers who build up an identity of being highly skilled. Research demonstrates that it is simply through consistent and intense practice by which these players generate this skill (Huang, Yan, Cheung, Nagappan & Zimmermann, 2017). These players tend to become interlocked in the ever-growing competitive world of electronic sports, or more prominently known as e-sports. Within this extremely competitive arena, players belong to specific franchises and compete in teams across different leagues as well as tournaments throughout a season in their game of preference (Hamari & Sjjblom, 2017). Constructing an identity as the best player of a game is significantly challenging however when taking into account the incredible skill and hours of playing it takes to achieve this high tier gameplay. It is for this reason that members within the gaming and streaming community have found alternative ways to reinvent themselves online. This reinvention, whilst attempting to attract a viewership, allows for the creation of a fun, fictional identity pioneered by the use of the Twitch service alongside the widely known market leader in YouTube (Sjjblom & Hamari, 2017). This allows gamers to both play the games they love and also build a fictional online identity to entertain their inclusive community of viewers, regardless of their playing ability.
Participatory online media has generated some incredible characters, who from a gaming standpoint have transformed the identity of the everyday gamer. Much of this change has been spearheaded by the astronomical rise of YouTube personalities such as ‘PewDiePie’, whose identity has been shaped by the ability to deliver humorous content himself to his online community whilst almost unskillfully playing games. Nowadays we see streamers and creators alike going beyond this and forging a fictional online identity separate to that of their own personal identity. Prominent twitch streamer Guy Beahm, who goes by his alias of ‘Dr. Disrespect’, facilitates what Gruzd et al. (2011) calls his online ‘imagined community’ through his ability to entertain and create a presentation of self as a dense fictional character. With a previous world record of 388,000 concurrent viewers on a live stream video of his at one time, Beahm has attracted an extremely broad community following of his Twitch channel (Alexander, 2018). Beahm fictionally presents himself as a macho posturing and hyper aggressive character whilst wearing a humorous mullet wig, glasses and thick moustache. This character in which Beahm has created in order to prioritse the entertainment aspect before the gameplay heavily falls back on research from Pearson (2009). This research is regarding identity being formed online through simply the actions the person behind the screen makes (Pearson, 2009). In this case, it is the actions that the gamer player makes within the game on a competitive level. However, we see through examples such as Beahm that this visual aspect of someone in character whilst streaming games moves beyond this possibly outdated research in the context of gaming. This shift is seen through identity originally being constructed by worded exchanges in its simplest online form (Pearson, 2009), to now a more densely constructed visual identity by the player, that is different to their own.
Conclusion
The online gaming community has seen astronomical change both in size and social stature in the past decade. This paper has demonstrated that through modern digitalisation and social networking platforms, the gaming community has generated a wealth of social capital associated with its existence. Whilst considered an “imagined community” as it is entirely online, gamers have found many platforms and routes to generate further communication to grow the community. Platforms including Twitch and YouTube have facilitated this social capital, allowing for constant inclusivity and interaction with community members through the viewing of gameplay videos from fellow members, essentially creating a close digital distance between one another. Not only this, but it is also clear that the fundamental identity traits that were previously associated with gamers such as the difficulty of their gameplay are no longer so existent. Amazingly, we see that through live streaming platforms, gamers are able to generate an entire new identity separate to that of their gameplay. This in turn contributes heavily to the entertainment aspect of watching gaming and heavily benefits the social capital within the community. Gamers such as Guy Beahm demonstrate just how the community is producing aliases such as ‘Dr. Disrespect’ to provide a fresh avenue of content creation, sharing and entertainment within the gaming community.
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