Abstract
Online gaming communities hold the same value as physical communities in establishing lasting and important relationships and connections to others, providing vast and various ways to communicate without physical barriers. The purpose of the conference is to critically analyze why online gaming communities are viewed in prejudice in comparison to offline communities. Identifying the key downfalls in academic writing that have come to shape dominant opinions of games and therefore shape opinions on online gaming communities form the argument of this conference. As online communities are a space that occurs differently to offline communities the value of online gaming communities is often perceived as limited to the online realm. Relationships established online through gaming communities are prejudiced through the way in which they are formed as illegitimate occurring in a realm of fiction. Studies of online gaming communities and games often focus on pointing out the differences between offline and online communities which form the context of prejudice towards online communities.
Introduction
Online games establish communities that are just as important as physical communities. Di Loreto & Gouaich (2010) state, “People are inherently social creatures…people are constantly searching for others to share their interests, to solve their problems, to date, to meet people, to have an informal conversation”. The motivations to be a part of a community are a part of society, so it is logical that communities form in the realm of online games as people constantly seek a community. Domahidi, Festl, and Quandt (2014) state, “Social online games are a mass phenomenon and, for most of the users, a social activity”. In an age of online gaming, it is not surprising it has become a mass social hub and formation of major communities. Online gaming communities play a major role in the establishment of meaningful relationships in gamers lives. There are many damaging prejudices that shape the way people are to perceive their online relationships as meaningful as well as them being perceived by mainstream society as legitimate relationships within these gaming communities.
Escapism
Escapism is a common explanation for the way people experience games. These ideas although critical to the evolution of thought on games have shaped the way online communities are viewed. Calleja (2010) states, “Digital games are often viewed as being inherently escapist…associating games with escapism relates to a common perception of play and games as opposite of seriousness and work and somehow set apart from the ordinary, everyday life”. Gaming communities are often viewed in the lens of escapism, as Calleja highlights games are viewed as something less serious or real. Escapism can play an important role in the way in which people find themselves playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. It is not a defining factor in all gamers experience or interaction with online games. Although online games allow people an escape, the escapism presented in dominate discussion of playing games is one that projects an idea that is set apart for ‘normal’ communities or relationships. Escapism creates this context around games and furthermore the online communities that occur within games as part of the escape.
Often escapism is linked to the idea of hiding one’s true self in online communities through avatars or the ability to be something else. Pearce (2011) states, “It is sometimes difficult for those unaccustomed to virtual worlds to understand these phenomena… “Performing” different personas in different contexts is a standard part of how we adapt to social situations”. Pearce ultimately highlights that someone whether online or offline can falsify themselves, it has become an easy scapegoat to the delegitimisation of online communities as it highlights how can a relationship or community be legitimate when it occurs behind a screen or through alternate personas.
Pearce highlights that in all contexts alternate personas whether that presents itself in the way someone acts or behaves it is generally a normal part of social situations. Anyone can manipulate parts of themselves to fit into a certain community but the screen factor may contribute to doubt in the legitimacy of online communties when in fact it proves the dominate similarity that occurs of people trying to find a place they fit no matter how they look, talk or present themselves. Furthermore, academics such as Steinkuehler, C. & Williams, D. (2006) state, “In online worlds, interaction is mediated by the virtual avatars of the individuals who inhabit them. These avatars bear no discernable relationship to one’s offline identity unless one chooses to render one’s own character so identifiable”. Referring to Pearce we can see that avatars hold no bearing in devaluing the online communities. Anyone can pretend and take on personas whether online or offline, of course, this may be easier in online games, but it does not mean that people in these games are exclusively liars. Far more likely the greater percentage of these communities are like-minded individuals trying to find their community. Escapism in these contexts is viewed as something that makes online gaming communities deemed less than. Although whether a community occurs online or offline there can always be false elements, understanding these concepts is important in developing the context in which online gaming communities are discussed.
The other aspect to the delegitimisation of online communities is the idea of the magic circle. The magic circle highlights a distinction between reality and games, where games fall in the realm of the magic circle people playing that game and whatever occurs inside it is limited to that context and therefore meaningless to the outside of that circle (Calleja, 2010, p. 340). The concept of the ‘magic circle’ is similar to that of escapism, both belittle the context of community occurring in online games pushing that meaningful interaction cannot occur or impact beyond that. The interactions of online communities in part contextual to that of the design and rules of the game within the realm the game plays. In fact, that can be true for many contexts in which community can form as a result of societal constructs vs game constructs. Something is not inherently meaningless outside of where it takes place, elements of a community can transcend these barriers and form relationships exterior to the context in which they once formed. Analysing the way in which online gaming communities can be negatively compared as less important over offline communities is portrayed by ideas such as escapism and magic circles. These ideas have long shaped the way in which games are viewed and therefore the way online communities are viewed. The magic circle has heavily shaped a dominant side of the argument and how video games and online gaming communities are viewed in our society. Ultimately this damages the way people can accept or feel accepted as they become a part of these communities, guilds and online friendships through online games.
Video Games Placed in Society
In order to understand why the discrepancy in value between offline and online communities it is important to understand where it starts. The placement of video games in society plays a big role in the perception of relationships that can be made in online gaming communities. Yee (2006) states, “When we talk about video games, it is easy to frame them as sites of play and entertainment…Video games play important roles in the increasingly blurred intersections of our social, economic, and political spheres.” Yee presents the important argument of video game prejudice. Video games are increasingly more prevalent in modern society and like any form of expression is important to the people it resonates with. Society does not understand the importance of games therefore they cannot understand the importance of the communities that occur within them. Liebe (2008) states games are, “a combination of cultural expression and technological innovation. This makes it even more difficult to grasp”. Liebe and Yee both present the idea of the complexity of games highlighting the major flaw in the study of modern video games, it is extremely complex. It is an artefact that blends many mediums, for a wide audience. Yet as many academics present concepts as the magic circle and escapism, they fail to understand the complexity of games in a modern era. Online games are a major part of modern society, as a result the online communities that grow there are vast and varied, they exist because they are meaningful, and the prejudice of games and outdated concepts harm the ability of online communities been perceived as legitimate.
Difference Between Online to Offline
Frostling-Henningsson (2009) states, “Compared to real life, communication in online gaming environments makes people connect in unexpected ways. People who would not normally socially interact are able to do so online”. This study highlights the understanding of player experiences in meaningful online communities. Understanding that there can be an overlap in online and offline relationships, also means sometimes relationships exclusively work in one and not the other or both. Online gaming communities allow like-minded individuals to find their place that maybe they do not find offline. One of Frostling-Henningsson’s subjects Cherin highlights that she communicates with one of her friends from the online game she plays daily but in real life they have only met once, she sees him as a younger brother and has helped him through many pivotal points in his personal development outside of the online games community (Frostling-Henningsson’s, 2009). Cherin and her friend are a circumstance of people connecting in unexpected ways through online video games, they may not have met in real life but none the less the relationship they established through an online community is just as meaningful to the lives of both the players. Kovista (2003) states, “Communication can be synchronous such as face-to-face conversation or asynchronous such as leaving a message in a forum…The range of communication can vary from one-to-one to many-to-many and it can occur in the same or different locations.” The allowance of online gaming communities is the ability to establish relationships across the world despite physical limitations. Much like Cherin’s online relationship, it exists mainly online but the range of communication that the online game they play occurs the way they want.
Social Capital
The motivations of online relationships are often presented as different from that of offline relationships contributing to the divide in the importance of relationships of online gaming communities. Trepte, Reinecke, and Juechems (2012) state, “Online gaming has gained billions of users around the globe, which have been shown to virtually connect, to befriend, and to accumulate online social capital”. Social capital is a term used often in the context of online relationships through online gaming communities. Although social capital is not limited to the online realm, often it is used to understand relationships that occur online. These relationships viewed as social capital portrays community and friendship as a form of digital currency. In a sense that is true to all societal relationships, the people you surround yourself with present who you are to society. Consequently, this highlights that the importance of online relationships holds the same inherent value of those offline through the idea of social capital. Communities whether offline or online hold the same societal value in the context of social capital and it helps to contextualise the way in which society views the value of relationships in alternative contexts.
Guilds: An Established Community
In online games, guilds form a massive part of these worlds and the way in which people communicate with each other. Online communities in games exist through the developer’s/ creator’s ability to incorporate game mechanics that allow accessible and easy forms of communication through concepts such as guilds (Koivisto, 2003). Although aspects such as game design can halt the process of community building, games that realise that communities are a big part of these players bases ultimate have the biggest following and community bases. World of Warcraft (WOW) is one of the biggest online gaming community player bases, the pre-constructed guilds of WOW mean players can easily join the mass online gaming community around WOW and find where they can fit into it (Odrowska & Massar, 2014, p. 237). Williams, Ducheneaut, Xiong, Zhang, Yee, and Nickell (2006) state “Any “place” is governed to some extent by its architecture. In a bar, there are tables and chairs and the bar itself, the position of which have social implications”. There are many rules and context in which an online game takes place as constructed by the creator, therefore, it could be said that in fact the communities are constructed in control of this, but society has rules and expectations just like any online game and in fact these constructions or barriers hold the similarity that draws people these communities in their likeness to the offline.
Conclusion
The importance of this conference comes from the identification of the downfalls in the analysis of games and therefore projected to online communities. There is such a strong portrayal in academic writing of online gaming communities falling into a completely different realm to offline communities. This analysis is false, in understanding this conference is understanding that games are an artefact people still struggle to define and wrap up into a perfect bite-sized concept. Whether a community offline or online they share more similarities than differences. People that are a part of online gaming communities may meet offline or stay exclusively online through their communication, whether it transcends offline or online it is still a meaningful community. Community holds its impact on the people who is are part of it. Something is not inherently important because people do not understand online gaming communities, it is meaningful in the fact that they exist and deserve to be understood as important to those who are a part of them.
References
Calleja, G. (2010). Digital games and escapism. Games and Culture, 5(4), 335 – 353.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412009360412
Di Loreto, I., & Gouaich, A. (2010). Social Casual Games Success is not so Casual Research Report (RR-10017). 1-11. Retrieved from http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/48/69/34/PDF/FunAndGames2010-03-22.pdf
Domahidi, E., Festl, R., & Quandt, T. (2014). To dwell among gamers: Investigating the relationship between social online game use and gaming-related friendships. Computers in Human Behavior, 35. 107-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.023
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Hi Casey,
I agree that people should stop comparing online and offline communities and instead consider them as separate entities. As you mentioned in your conference paper, this would allow more people to utilise the benefits of online communities rather than invalidating them due to their lack of interest in and understanding of online games.
Even though they should be considered separate in significance, do you think they can be important when used in unison? At the moment they are often being compared in a negative light in academic work, but what benefits could the two types of communities have together?
Hi Abbey,
I definitely think that they are important when used in unison, as the relationships can transcend online to offline and offline to online especially in the modern era as we continuously can converse through the use of the online space. I especially think this is relevant for online gaming communities as you can meet people offline who play and then move to an online relationship where you play together and talk thorough the game whilst having only an online relationship or online and offline, or in the other circumstance meet people through online games and meet up with them in real life! so many possibilities.
The communities are both important and therefore should be considered as individually valuable but of course they overlap and produce just as meaningful relationships. This conference paper definitely focused on why the devaluing of communities is making it hard in modern society for online gaming communities to be valued but its definitely important to consider that these communities merge also. Once that gap is bridged between the value of online vs offline communities hopefully we start seeing studies about the inherent value of both when considered alongside each other.
I think that it is very relevant to today to consider these ideas, do you often find yourself merging online and offline with your everyday relationships?
Hi Casey,
Your paper is very thought-provoking and I really enjoyed reading it. What really caught my attention is the connection you’ve made between the magic circle and escapism which I found really interesting. The online and offline communities are definitely viewed as two distinct communities.
I believe that bonding social capital has an impact on collective play which in turn positively affects the offline civic engagement. It does improve the gamer’s civic skills and their self-efficacy in public affairs.
What do you think of the impact of general-play on bridging social capital?
Hi SPeeroo,
I think any form of play is important, this whole idea of “what is a true gamer” or “You only play that, you aren’t a real gamer” is garbage. It’s a hobby for some people a way of life, for others a time waster but whatever it means to the person playing is what makes it theirs. Anyone who plays can be a gamer, general-play is a big part of existence as is social capital. Social capital is therefore prevalent in any social play. If the specific play is social I believe that it’s inherently linked to the development of social capital. I’m not necessarily sure about the impact as much as the relationships between the two, the more social play is the more it bridges social capital in those circumstances.
Thanks!
Hi Casey,
I agree that community, whether online or physical, is a quintessential aspect of the human experience. People don’t see the idea of ‘online’ and ‘offline’ communities as being the same, they place more value on the latter rather than on the former. They both hold equal weighting in my mind as they allow people to speak their thoughts and bond with others.
What would you say is the key to breaking down the divide between the physical and the digital communities?
Hi EHanton,
I think that the discrepancy of value between online and offline communities very much falls to the people who do not take online culture seriously or do not care to understand it.
Simply in the notion of, “I hung out with my friends online” vs. “I went out with my friends today”. Those two notions already if said to a general audience would have stigma around them
One deemed unsocial the other social. I really disagree with the stigma of sociality only been achievable in physical space. Which is a major factor in this stigmatisation of online communities. I think especially in modern society even friends that I do hang out with physically, probably half of our interaction is online still and my online friends made through games is based online only due to the fact of physical distance that stops the physicality of that relationship, but neither feels less or more legitimate to me.
I guess what I am trying to say is that it’s one of those things that I think eventually will shift as younger generations grow up in this era of technology its intrinsic to the way we communicate and socialise commonly. Whereas generally I feel for older generations who care not to learn or understand online communities are often seen through this “waste of time” lens because what you don’t understand equals uselessness.
We can’t all understand everything but I guess the more important thing is just because you don’t understand it, it doesn’t make it any less valuable to the person who does and I guess that’s the key.
Thanks for reading my conference and your awesome question!
Hello Casey,
I have read your paper and finds it pretty interesting. Your title caught my attention even though I am not into gaming, your paper was worth reading. I always wanted to know more about that online community that is now expanding. Personally, I am a ‘phone’ gamer but I know that everyone has a little bit of gamer in them be it Call of Duty to Candy Crush.
I like how you explore the topic and subtopic of escapism and alternate personas. After a bit of reading other papers and also some little things on the web, I find that there are some gaming communities that are very empowering for lonely kids and introvert to share experiences and create friendships.
But online communities can, of course, attract hateful people that pour out their frustration over other gamers. What do you think can be done to reduce toxicity and in-game abuse? Because we cannot hide that there are a lot of aggressive behaviors from some gamers, how can we reduce the effect of bad gamers in a sane and calm area for enjoyment?
Hi MThomas,
I think online communities and toxic behaviour directly translates from real world contexts where this behaviour is not treated for the severity that is can hold. Bullying and harassment are often cases that go unpunished or with low sentences, but often hold great severity to those who are affected by it. The basis of that in our society directly translates online where, if you can get away with it offline where your identity is more well known online can turn into a much worse version as a result of anonymity.
So what can be done, I think at a society level things need to change, these attitudes exist because there is so little repercussion for them happening most often. This sets a standard where people can say what they and do what they want to others and if society as a whole doesn’t care enough to change it people that are doing these things see no reason to change either. There needs to be more repercussions for this behaviour in society before we see change anywhere.
I think that sometimes like in any community is takes a while to find a group of people that you feel safe with and can communicate with, which is a journey for everyone. It sucks that people can’t just feel safe anywhere and play online with anyone. But of course gamers need to be vigilant on who they play and talk to like any social situation. I think blocking, unfriending or ignoring people who are rude, aggressive or make you feel uncomfortable should be steps everyone should learn to take. People feel that they are been mean when they take action like this but those features are in place to stop people feeling uncomfortable in their happy places.
This topic is very heavy and there are many parts that could be discussed, but in my personal experience as an online gamer, I find that if I feel uncomfortable I leave or block people. Otherwise if you can find a community that you can play with and support each other that always helps in the toxicity of online gaming communities.
Thanks!
Hello,
Thank you for responding. Yet blocking, unfriending and reporting abusive users is a way to get rid of them but yet do you think that some users at a certain extent feel like this aggressiveness is a part of the game? As if it is normal? For example in games like resident evil or sniper elite?
Is aggressiveness a part of these games?
Looking forward to your comment…
Hi MThomas,
That is a interesting notion to consider, to be to be honest sometimes it might be. I think gaming is a wide enough realm of possibility where some people might feel this way, if that how players in that community want to play I don’t think anyone should stop that.
In saying that some people do not want to play that way, which is also okay.
Gaming is such a wide spectrum, and people play for different reasons. I think that should stay the same. What shouldn’t stay the same is players ignorance to others players experience, what I mean is just because the person you get matched with etc. doesn’t want to behave in the same manner as other players they shouldn’t feel uncomfortable to leave or play in the way that they want to play.
Gaming especially online gaming is a community and communities should be about compromise and acceptance. If aggressiveness is part of the game play experience for a specific community that’s their prerogative but it should not infringe on others gamer’s ability to play how they want to play and vice versa.
I think sometimes in games when playing with others it can be fun to get loud, yell, cheer even swear. But their is a time and a place for all behaviour even in games, we all just need to be more considerate about who we are playing with and what our action/words have the power to do.
I guess what I am trying to say is even though someone may not like a way in which someone plays a game it shouldn’t devalue the way they want to experience the game (unless its toxic behavior, trolling or bullying or abuse that’s totally different).
Let me know what you think!
Thank you for replying. I like the perception that you have.
For sure everyone should enjoy the game in the way that they want, if they feel at ease with swearing and all, it is up to them to enjoy the game but some players I must admit have some toxic trait and sometimes they are so indulged into a game that when back to reality there is no difference.
They swear, act violent and so on with people around them.
Is game toxic when it gets to that extent? rather than being entertainment?
Hi Casey,
I really enjoyed reading your paper. I am not a gamer myself but most of my close friends are. I agree with your statement to a certain extend and truly believe that people should not be comparing online and offline communities. Online gaming communities are actually great to socialize with others. I tried playing Fortnite and league of legends once just to please my friends but did not like how they interact online. I don’t mind the foul language or aggressiveness which are a result of accumulated tension or stress of succeeding in the game but rather the way some players make fun of foreigners or their way of playing. Even though it’s all fun and games in their mind, they can be pretty inconsiderate which can hurt people’s feelings. Do you think that this type of behavior is fine and will not stop in the future? Also, what do you think is needed to be done in order to maintain a positive and respectful environment for online gaming communities?
Regards,
Pooja.
Hi Pooja,
I don’t think any behaviour in online communities that makes people feel uncomfortable or doubt their ability in playing is okay. This also is harmful to the way in which meaningful interactions can take place in online games due to ignorance of others feelings and straight up bullying.
It’s hard to say if it would stop, I think people are definitely getting better. People are speaking out about problems and standing up for others much more in online communities. That is the most important thing that can be done, be there to support other players and stick up to players abusing their privilege.
Thanks! Casey.